Ridiculous banking

It is not advisable to post in a blog frequently. 1) It bores the readers 2) It makes the reader realise the truth that the blogger does not have any other job in life. But many big things happen in a short time...

What?!! Hari made the car come to a screeching halt on hearing the Kotak Bank customer relations executive say that over the mobile. I almost hit the dash board; they call it inertia.

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Due to some strong reasons I'm taking off the remaining portion of this lengthy post on Hari's banking experience. I hope I would get a chance to bring it back...Thanks.
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M.F. II

I'm really surprised at the way the post M.F.Hussain has got connected with many of us. Firstly thanks to BlogBharti for linking the post.I'm very happy about it.

I'm also thrilled to get an extraordinary Comment[anonymous] to that post. I feel that Comment needs to be seen by more people; felt by more people. I do not want it to get lost. So here it goes...

"A recently turned 'civil servant', from a totally non - civil service background, my time in the district is showing me what I never ever saw, imagined sitting in a metro, even when I was studying for this exam. What I do see now is not something I can explain and thereby answer all the questions put up on the blog or reply to the repeated accusations of the terrible bureaucracy. But I can say, that there a million little and big things that the bureaucracy takes care of, every day, every minute, at least in the districts. People's lives are run by it, depend on it. What appears in the newspapers is always and only where the administration has failed. But each day, I personally see, so many people being helped, being protected by the very same bureaucracy.

In a short span of 3 months, I have seen and understood that, something I did, because of which an entire village came to thank me, took my side when local media and politicians came to accuse as usual, did not get published and will never get published and people at large will never know. BUT, I know, and that village knows, and respects me - as a bureaucrat - for what was done.

I can confidently say, that the bureaucracy is NOT the monster it is always made out to be. It has its shortcomings - many of them too - but it binds,coalesces and smoothens things out, in a way that people may not even realise. "


Thanks for that...!

People like you build that one village that fought Caesar...

MCA

All of a sudden I realise I have been affected by a disease. I really don’t know when it happened. But am sure it has happened. Even a few in my close circle confirm that. I googled and to my relief I found that I’m not alone – there are many, many around. I have been living alone for quite some time now and in an attempt to break my monotony I met up with one of my uncles.

But you could have come in an auto rickshaw…you see the roads are clogged everywhere and…the traffic jam. And your bike..what’s the mileage? I gave a random number between 40 and 50. He continued, Yeah! That’s obvious. You see…the dense smoke coming out…and the noise. The filter needs to be cleaned…and the battery is also old. Once you do that mileage would reach even 80 or 90 (kmpl). I had a Bajaj Super scooter…it used to give me 75. It was excellent. I nodded. Laughed loudly; inside me. But these auto fellows…we should also go for CNG autos like in Delhi. But that was also not a success. In Sydney…
He continued his world tour and presented me a snapshot of the latest energy technologies. 20% fact. 80% fiction. I nodded. In the mean time I saw the neighbour barging in. He joined the talk. You read today’s [news]paper?! In the GH, they had interchanged two dead bodies…and only after the cremation the families found it out! Now looking at me, Where did you get that specs? I answered. You see there is a slight deviation in the power…I can see it from this angle. The image is abnormally distorted. My father was an eye doctor…Yeah…these days the opticians use computer, machine etc to check our eyes…during those days it was just a small lens and a newspaper…the prescription was perfect. You should go the eye hospital down the road here. They.. He continued. It ended in: Exams were difficult those days…not like now. I felt suffocated.
His wife joined us. The TV was on. A comedy show was going on. We laughed for a while. She started abruptly, looking at my uncle. Did you not try the v-si booster for your TV? Those grains in the corner…our TV is crystal clear. I wondered what that damn vsi-asi stuff was. You have spent 320 rupees extra!! Her talk ended.
The little kid who had been to the school, returned. He flung his tiny shoes in different directions, threw his bag and ran up to his dad to snatch the TV remote control. Pogo channel. Hey….kiddo. Get back from the TV…the UV rays are not good for your eyes. And give me the remote…we can watch Animal Geographic. The kid did not look up. I continued: We should watch TV from a distance of 6-7 feet away. But that LG DiNeX is fantastic…we can even sit with our noses touching the screen…it is a very advanced...yeah..TV. Advanced TV. I finished with: Exams are getting easy these days.

My google results made me know a few more things about the disease.

Name: MCA – Multiple Collateral Advicerosis
Whom it affects:Everyone is vulnerable.
When: MCA sets with age and reaches a peak around 65-70 years of age. However Sciences journal reports cases with double peaks, with the first peak setting around 40-45 years of age. In some highly exceptional cases triple peaks are also reported.
Symptoms: The patient starts giving out free advice (ineffective and boring counseling sessions conducted without any apparent need thereby inducing a feeling of suffocation to the victim). One more peculiarity is that the patient will cross the thin boundary between fact and fiction, in most cases unknowingly, due to the overwhelming desire to talk (or write*) and being heard.
Cause: APA’s Psycho and Hayward Medical Review 2000 point out MCA could possibly be due to the presence of the speech organ – mouth; also due to the improper affecto-cognitive behavioural tendencies bordering around narcissism and the lack of sympathy for others.
Diagnosis: Cellphone test, Newspaper test, FM radio test and Blog test*.
Treatment: A trans-national, multi-cultural, collaborative research in under progress in an undisclosed location in New Delhi, India.

Until then...keep giving!

[*appended after the recent pathbreaking studies at the Linguistics dept, University of Blogotham, New Yolk]

M.F.Hussain I.A.S.


"How are you able work under corrupt, criminal politicians even after studying so much?"

My tryst with the creature called civil service began almost a decade ago when my brother got ready to take his UPSC exams. Today both of us are “civil servants”. (I’m yet to figure out who were Uncivil servants!) Over the last many years we and my other friends here, have come across those questions in various formats, from different corners. They usually move around –
o The system is beyond repair
o The system is corrupt
o You have to follow the orders of politicians
o Transfers and punishment postings
o No single man can make a difference
o Don’t waste your brain

Every morning the newspapers show us how the state has failed us – bomb blasts, lack of basic facilities, murders, communal clashes, leaking PDS, red tape, poor infrastructure, corrupt bureaucrats etc. Yes, it seems the state and a major part of its agencies – Courts, Assemblies, Bureaucracy – have failed. BUT we are able to hold together as one nation purely due to the fact that there are very honest, able men and women sprinkled here and there. These men and women ensure we do not lose hope, completely. I’m reminded of Asterix and Obelix. As it goes, during the time when a vast expanse of the known world was under Caesar, only one Gaulish village stood out; they gave Rome a real pain; these people made sure their independence was not negotiable. But for this one village Caesar would have been the real Emperor. Every soul would have been his subject. The people I’m talking about are like that village, without them there would be no hope. No future.

And, as we know, if all of us move away from the dirty world of government and administration for these reasons, our future will not have even one single village to fight odds…

Well, I do not mean that being in the civil service is the only way to contribute to the country. I don’t ask why M F Hussain is wasting canvas and cans of colours instead of being Sh.M.F.Hussain I.A.S., Secretary-Ministry of Rural Development. Also, there have been many officers who have quit the service to do better work! But civil service is not something one needs to avoid for frivolous reasons like “working under illiterate politicians, under constant fear of transfers and punishment postings”.

It’s good to remember our quotes-man George Bernard Shaw – Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.

Whether we like it or not, democracy is in the DNA of our Constitution.

Give time a break...

I wish I had come here earlier; I wish I had more time here.

Puduchery beach.

Wallpaper



I don’t know about you, but I have always wondered how someone is able to have a crystal clear goal about their career. No, I’m not talking about the little kids who invariably shout out “Doctor”, “Teacher”, “Collector”, “Police” etc when asked about their ambition in life by adults, who themselves are confused about their careers. [Here again I'm not sure what the urban, gen-next kid has to say on Ambition. Probably she would like to become a Software engineer, Scientist, Fashion-model, Pilot, Prime Minister.] I’m talking about many of my colleagues, friends etc who often say their goal is to become – a successful and famous entrepreneur like NRN, the Chief Secretary of a state, the Managing Director of X company in Y years, the most popular doctor in the town, a millionaire before A age. I feel all these people are really lucky…they know where they need to go. They strive to reach their destination. They are busy in pursuit.

But some people like me are notorious for the wavering mind; the swinging career path. More than the euphemism of “Multi-talented” the straight, simple word “Confused” fits our category better. In fact one of my big bosses quipped “Would you be changing your wife too?” It was just his frustration that came out as I was overly concerned about the variety in my job, during a mid-year review many years back. Somehow this idea of a “specialist” does not go down very well with me. How can someone spend a lifetime doing just one thing? I wonder. So, sitting back and pondering, in a highly confused state, I was happy to get a call from a longtime friend. I would remember at least one line of the whole conversation for many months (at least) to come; she said “Life is not about reaching somewhere. It is about traveling happily”. Probably the original version was by Aristotle or Socrates or someone like that who had spent a lifetime giving out quotable quotes…but that does not matter now. I am taking those timely words anyway. I have already popularised this quote in my circle here; and everyone seems to be satisfied with it. They stop asking about my ambition, goal etc the moment I tell them life is an interesting journey that unfolds as we go. Probably they decide I’m too philosophical to give a direct answer; or they are trying to memorise it to pass on as free-advice to many others!

A few days back I got a mail from one of my earlier bosses (not the one who came for the mid year review!). He too helped me out of this confusion. His point was that we got to have a clear distinction between job and career. We often mix up these two and land up in a pretty job while the career chosen might not be to our liking. True. But please do not ask me more on that. Think for yourself – it will be much better than mine. For sure.

During our preparation for the campus interviews we were asked to be clear on the two main issues:
1)Why me for this job?
2)Why this job for me?


There was an enthu-pot in our gang and he used to say “I want a job that would either add value to me or a job to which I can add value”. That was his tagline immaterial of the company he was applying for. Based on the company his follow-up explanation would change course during the interview. He is with India’s most famous software company today. These days I’m highly inspired by his old words. But I have modified it to suit me; and shut mouths. It goes like this: “I don’t want a job that would bring me name; I’m looking for a job to give name”.

Have in mind I’m a hardcore Super Star fan.

Wondering what is that image of the hanging disco lights or aurora borealis or multi-coloured sperms doing here?

Osamu Shimomura, an assistant at Nagoya University, Japan, was put on a frustrating study of the glow on the remains of crushed molluscs, as his professor did not want to cripple the careers of his research students with this difficult, unrewarding task. It was 1955. That study lead Shimomura to the Friday Harbour, Washington where he collected about 50,000 jelly fish every summer and ended up accumulating 8,50,000 (!) jellyfish for his studies. Imagine waiting at a harbour, every summer, just to collect thousands of jellyfish! Heights of specialisation!

Today we all owe a lot to Shimomura for his discovery of GFP – Green Fluorescent Protein. He is one among the three who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry this year. To quote Frontline, “…GFP has become an extraordinary and widely used tagging tool in bioscience, using which scientists have developed ways to watch processes that were previously invisible, such as the development of nerve cells in the brain or the spreading of cancer cells.”

These disco lights are my desktop wall paper now. They are the GFP planted inside a mouse’s brain!

When coming to talk of Shimomura’s drive to have shared a major part of his life entirely with thousands of dead jellyfish, he did not seem to have any great confusion or catchy quotations; he just got this to say – “…. The point is that… I don’t do my research for application or any benefit. I just do my research to understand why jellyfish luminesce and why that protein fluoresces. There are many, many [undiscovered molecules in nature that emit light]. Interesting at least to me.”

Wow!

Pudhiya Vaarpugal


“Dhom-tana dhom-tana…” – a dozen angels accompanied by this humming having a special place in our hearts as the eternal background for any romantic sequence is from Pudhiya Vaarpural (PV). One of the landmark films of Barathiraja, PV released in 1979 was also the launching pad for K.Bagyaraj as a hero. Late 70s was also the period when Tamil cinema was seeing a transition – both in terms of the filmmaking styles and the lead artists. MGR-Sivaji Ganesan era was gradually making way for the new combo of Rajni-Kamal – the twin stars that rein Kollywood till date. The movie themes that underwent a transition from mythology to raja-rani stories to social issue themes to the ones built around very strong characters, reached a new level with Barathiraja shifting the production unit from the sets and cities to real, live villages; creating a path breaking film – 16 Vayathiniley (1977).

The raw and simple village life – with people looking awestruck at anyone with a pair of trousers, little kids running behind the rare motor cars, villagers gossiping under the shade of huge banyan trees, old grannies giving out their readymade advice and proverbs, lush green paddy fields dancing like waves, little kids shouting out their lessons sitting in crude rooms called schools and the beautiful damsel singing amidst acres of bright sunflowers – was never thought to be a place for a successful cinema plot until Barathiraja’s entry. PV established this trend that had started two years earlier with 16 Vayadhiniley.

If 16 Vayadhiniley explored the interface of the villages with the city-life with a perverted doctor’s entry into the rural landscape and how he cheats a local girl, PV is about a nice school teacher who gets posted in a village. Here, fuelled by the womanising, widower village-head, the villagers manipulate the teacher’s good intentions leading to unexpected turns in the story. The village-head’s character is parallel to that of Parattai (Rajnikanth) in 16 Vayathiniley. Goundamani is cast as the yes-man of the villains in both the films. In a way both these films reflected the slowly changing socio-cultural milieu of a village due to the overall progress of our country.

Rati (Rati Agnihotri of the Ek Duuje Ke Liye (1981) fame) is splendid as the village beauty Jothi. The director had put her to the best use by cutting short pages and pages of dialogues into just a few close-ons of her expressive face and extreme close-ups of her eyes. Sometimes her expressions are enigmatic. (The cutting short of dialogues was also another major trend that was gaining ground in Tamil films around that time) Bagyaraj, needless to say, has given an impressive debut performance. But as we are used to his typical voice these days, it is quite difficult to get adjusted to the stranger’s dubbed voice coming out of Bagyaraj’s mouth. However Bagyaraj scores full mark as the dialog writer for this film. The conversations look so natural; they are convincing; gripping; and even humourous. The social worker character though not well-developed, creates a pivot to move the story. Jothi's father - a nadaswaram vidwan - reminds us of Kamal Hassan's brother in Unnal Mudiyum Thambi, released more than a decade after PV!

An intelligent and soulful re-recording by Ilayaraja recreates the moods of a village and makes you a part of the life there. Remember, this was one of the early films of the maestro and one could feel the mark he would be leaving on Tamil movies in the years to come. The Barathiraja-Ilayaraja team continued to captivate us till as late as the early 90s with Nadodi Thendral.

Shots with the sun over-head could have been avoided. There are also a few continuity problmes with the light. Otherwise the cinemotographer has done a decent job. Many scenes have camera movements that add to the effect. The initial temple sequence where Shanmugamani-Jothi take lovely looks at each other from behind the tall temple pillars is done well. PV also uses symbolic scenes that were used quite liberally in those days. The one showing blood oozing from the mouth of the nadaswaram chillingly conveys the old man’s death. The burning of the chokkapaanai on a Karthigai Deepam day in the climax, and the lighting of it by the village-head’s son also stands out in meaning. In fact, even the insane son of the crooked village-head is symbolic in itself!

Another highlight of the film is the village festival sequence with transgender artists performing for the villagers. This lengthy folk sequence also manifests as the setting for the trigger plot for the climax. One is reminded of the opening sequence of Paruthiveeran (2007), released almost three decades later!!

The film gets built gradually with the unfolding of a beautiful love story between the new teacher Shanmugamani and the local beauty Jothi. The evil village-head who is attracted by Jothi, plots and throws the good-hearted teacher out of the village accusing him of a rape and murder; he also goes a step further by marrying Jothi off to Amavasai (Goundamani) and asks them to live in his house so that his lust can be satisfied at will. What leads to this point and what happens after this is the film.

Though there are not many sub-plots in this movie, the twists and the spontaneity of the film keep you glued till the end. And the end falls in line with the title.

Pudhiya Vaarpugal is a classic.

PS: Bagyaraj is presently making a movie with the same title. This movie is going to be a grand success if it matches even a quarter of the benchmark set by the original Pudhiya Vaarpugal.

Fashion



Madhur Bhandarkar has excelled the art of interestingly exposing the dark underbelly of a popular part of our lives with a strong female character. It was party journalism-Konkona Sen in Page 3; business world-Bipasha Basu in Corporate. Now, fashion industry-Priyanka Chopra.

Meghna Mathur (Priyanka Chopra) breaks away from her conservative home in search of her dream of making it big in the dark world of fashion and modelling. What happens to her is the story...

It is worth a watch.

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