Mansi - let_the_fat_lady_sing

From brickbats to bouquets

noreply@blogspirit.com (Priya Banati) — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 09:45:47 +0530

I have always tried to understand why I need to be heard. It is a malaise that I am aware of but sometimes completely helpless against.
Example: blogging
When I began to blog I received comments, good and bad. The negative ones though stuck with me. I searched and scanned my blogs for negative feedback. From potshots at the usability on my site to language to length of posts, there were many.
Despite the brickbats, I still enjoyed blogging.

My last two posts however have received bouquets. First, a rant from a reader who hates Prannoy Roy and scared me with just how much. The second, a person who I think has always seen me as one step off the edge, telling me that this was my best yet.

I am tickled by it all. What can I say - thank you my dear friends, ladies and gentlemen, thank you!
LOL

Leadership buTTs

noreply@blogspirit.com (Priya Banati) — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 10:56:23 +0530

I've recently had a growing list of things I want to blog about. Putting it down here for all of you to see, if not read about, will help ease my anxiety levels a little. So bear with me.
1. Rahul Gandhi's interview
2. Kal
3. Love stories and Indian cinema
4. ....

I can't even remember the list any more. Now that I have put them down, each of the topics are jumping up and down to be fulfilled. However I am going to stick with a single theme that might run in and around all of the above topics...and then perhaps I can come back to each when I have more time.

At work, I got to share a bit of Covey's '8th Habit' with the team at large. Deepan and I spent a whole day Saturday discussing my relationship with my parents. Be it the Newspaper or television, one cannot escape the Chappel vs Ganguly drama. And then, there's Rahul Gandhi's interview sticking out like Bart Simpson's butt (which seems to be the only thing left in that ridiculous excuse of a cartoon worth advertising about).
I've spent a good part of my teens and early twenties wondering if I have what it takes to be a leader. This particular behaviour is a result of being partially if not completely addicted to self-help/self-management books. Every book, every self-test, every comment and quotation got me asking the question again and again until I met my objective. I managed to answer the question in a firm No and thus cultivated a healthy reserve of self-pity that will probably last me a lifetime.
Reading Rahul Gandhi's interview, I immediately identified with his brand of self-pity too. After all it takes one self-pity hoarder to know another. We all do brandish it in our own ways and his 'informal' interview does bring out his own. While many took serious offense to his 'prime minister at 25' comment, I didn't. There is no surprice in absurdities anymore, why should this be any different?
Were we to accept that Rahul Gandhi will be our prime minister, the next question in our minds would be (borrowing from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's answer of Musharaf), can we do business with him?
Fact - Rahul Gandhi is all of 34 years when he gave the interview in Tehelka.
Fact - Rahul Gandhi did not become Prime Minister at 25.
Yet, Rahul baba gave the interview as a 25 year old. Rahul, like me (x years ago) is in a time warp. He has been the Prime Minister of India in his head. When he turned down the notion at 25, a part of his mind jumped up and grabbed it and in time it has grown into a life of it's own. This reminds me of my father's tumor in his brain that was being fed by the most intricate of blood vessels. Life only gives life. It does not understand good from bad. In time, tumors might threaten the very life of its source (the most absurd of absurdities) but it does happen. And so it did happen with Rahul Gandhi.
Rahul baba in his interview goes to all lengths to convince us of the path he wanted and ultimately took. Yet, all the learning, all the experience hasn't sunk in. He's still a 25 year old who wants to be crowned Prime Minister.
Were we to flip the mirrors away from Rahul baba and towards ourselves, perhaps we will see our own delusions regarding his Prime Ministership. Perhaps we have too encouraged the Prime Minister in him each time we see him.
Yet, we must return to our current Prime Minister's practical wisdom and ask the question, is this a man we can do business with?
My answer is no. Even were we both to drain the life supply of our Prime Ministerships, once the fog clears we will see a large deficient. Rahul Gandhi's interview brought out a lack of character. It was deja vu since we can see in Rahul baba, remnants of his father minus the leo charm. At 34, he seems as green as he might have been at 25. One could interpret it as a unique ability to retain one's 'child'. I think not. Rahul Gandhi is a child who has stopped growing. Burdened by baggage of his own choosing, he is ready now to use it to wallop our Indian world. His interview is a clear statement to Indians that he's ready to step out. This is no mature, intelligent, quiet man. This is a burdened soul who's batting with us, despite himself.
A lot like Ganguly too who recently is looking pretty good with his new hair cut and glasses. The only thing I have liked about Ganguly is his elegant 4s and 6s. I speak of it as in the past since it has been a matter of the past. Everything else is attributed to one attribute, and one attribute alone - LUCK. Cricket lovers who are not into statistics or quality or skill too much all understand what it means to have a captain's LUCK. How many times have I heard my uncles talk about having a captain with 'luck'.
In the recent war between Ganguly and Chappel, everybody's got their hands in the air, waving frantically, to be given the chance to speak of how Ganguly is one of our best captains ever. To most of us, entrenched in our work, mostly MNCs, globalization-induced, this means that Ganguly has the ability to deliver quality. To my uncles it just means luck. There is a huge growing section of youth who are working in MNCs and successful Indian companies who are imbibing a different culture. They look to the West and the East and are imbibing issues of quality and commitment. To them, success is measured as per their filtered glasses. To them, this hogwash about Ganguly being the best captain we've had means something completely different from what it actually is.
To them, I would say, please take those damn shades off.
The cricketing culture in this country is as pathetic and quality-less as any other facet of our lives. The politics, the betting, the leaks, the loops all point to a large malaise. To have Greg Chapell dispel of it in a seven page email is perhaps just the tip of the iceberg.
To all those who sympathize with Ganguly, I would say - Enough. We cannot be ruled by our emotional swings. We need to understand the complete absense of quality and transparency within the Cricketing world. We need to understand that our traditional maxims around 'Guru' is absolutely rubbished today. The irony of this term was wonderfully displayed in the movie Iqbal where Girish Karnad was 'Guruji'.
Where does Ganguly get off speaking to the media about his captaincy? How can we let the Board get away with leaking confidential reports?
On some channel, I heard of cricketeers speak of using the right channels, where in email was considered inappropriate. This is completely laughable. In this day and age if there is a faction amongst us who considers email informal...... really!!! And then there are those who have a problem with understanding Chapell's comments given only two months as coach. Well!!! Are we really all idiots to buy that one? In the case of Chapell, I think it's been a case of from the frying pan into the fire and please, don't blame him if he's trying to alarm the nation of the fire in our cricketing bellies.
Underneath the players and the coach lies the root of this disease, the blood vessel that feeds this monstrous cricketing culture that is Indian and that is the Board. From selections to elections, there is a far darker and sinister play going on. I am scared. Aren't you?

NDTV bashing

noreply@blogspirit.com (Priya Banati) — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 11:50:25 +0530

Will somebody ask Prannoy Roy to quit????

The NDTV 9'oclock news is turning me into a media-hating Medusa. With the case of electricity tarriffs, to collapsing buildings in Mumbai and then to the stint in Afghanistan, we do not need George Bush or his government's fear therapy. We have our own home grown democratic gremlin- NDTV to do the above and more.

Case 1 - Protests against electricity tariffs: NDTV's mirch formula: The Great Indian Middle Class is against privatization. I feel sorry for the chap who gets invited every evening - -each show, he seems to improve on his technique to cram in 'No Privatization without competition' in just as fewer seconds as possible without having an NDTV correspondent pounce on the word privatization.
Does Dr Roy even care about 'No privatization without competition'? All he wants to do is join the whipping line and add a few personal blows to what he patronizingly calls 'the Great Indian Middle Class'.

Case 2 - Collapsing buildings in Mumbai: NDTV's mirch formla: X number of people's lives in threat and the Mumbai government finally wakes up! If this isn't the grossest example of misinformation. While dilapidated buildings have been declared such for years and years, it is the residents within the buildings who refuse to budge. The fact that these buildings survived the rains is amazing. However, if they were to tomorrow begin to fall down like a pack of cards, I will be damned if I am asked as the Great Indian Middle Class to pay up for 'relief' efforts.

What has Mumbai afterall come down to? Torrential rains, flooding, gross mismanagement of disaster relief, falling buildings - - and amidst of it all, all the media channels are on 24 hour alerts to continue to display the Mumbai spirit - with the Janmashtami celebrations this past weekend ( where every year more than 60 Govindas are hospitalized and quite a few of them lose their lives) and the upcoming Ganesha celebrations. The next person who comes to me with sound bits on the 'Mumbai Spirit' is going to get smacked!

NDTV's 24X7 is fast losing it's share of eyeballs. Hindi channels, a new one is launched every week, are dominating news in the North. South Indian news channels ( Asianet - that is my absolute favorite) and other South Indian channels that also do News dominate the market in the South.
So where does NDTV's 24X7 go?

Me thinks the obvious logic (even if it isn't as obvious in NDTV's branding) is to go International. 24X7 can be the BBC World for Indians. Sadly, mere-copying of digital effects from the BBC will not suffice.

Case 3: Prime Minister's visit to Afghanistan - -
In every foreign stint, NDTV's broadcasts project a sense of impending fear and danger to their reporters. If anybody followed the Afghanistan story closely, the fear levels projected were akin to NDTV's recent stint interviewing key leaders of the LTTE in Sri Lanka. To me, it's quite hilarious that a channel gearing up to be India's premier International news channel, while on foreign assignments, displays the heart of Punjab's official state bird. The reporters have no grasp of international history. There is no sensitivity to ground sensibilities (and please don't tell me Barkha Dutt has a grip on Kashmiri sentiment!!!). Last night, Dr. Roy greeted his afghani foot soldier - Amitav, with relief oozing out every pore on his body. "Afghanistan is so dangerous - we're glad to have made contact with you, dear loyal NDTV reporter'. Forget the occasion - An Indian PM visits Afghanistan! No, NDTV is quite happy spreading the fear of Afghani soil. To my best judgement, I doubt Amitav strayed too far from the official Indian delegation's to-dos -- and yet, Dr. Roy felt it pertinent to ask if 'People in Afghanistan truly support democracy' - - HA HA HA - - Like Amitav would know.
And of course when faced with no answer, Amitav in true reporting fashion, replied with such zeal, you'd think the Afghanis were democratic by birth!

(Let's not forget how they sat and watched when Buddha was blown up)

Every time Dr. Roy comes to read the 9pm news - the device that scrolls the content always breaks down - or so it seems - for Dr. Roy is always faltering for words, expressions and when lost, he then injects his fast dilipidating personal sense -- The outcome is nothing short of goofy -- and this coming from our premier News channel (or so they would think )!

Somebody tell Dr. Roy to just up and quit! And bring on his disenchanted pupil - Rajdeep Sardesai -- I'll take his indignant panting for Dr. Roy's syrupy dialogue any day!

Is Media Credible?

noreply@blogspirit.com (Priya Banati) — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 22:00:00 +0530

What is the USP for media firms? Looking across news channels, I reckon it's 'C'redibility.
Across all news Channels, more and more we see reporters and news readers trying their best to look earnest and Credible. A man who Caught on early to the sword of Credibility is none other than NDTV's Pranoy Roy.

I Caught him two nights in a row anChor the 9pm news this week. While he still wields the mighty 'C' sword, I think he's also lost his own reporting edge.. This evening he called Uddhav Bal Thakeray's nephew and Raj the latter's son! Yesterday he had trouble Choosing between the words livelihood and living.

His humor isn't as sharp or reflective either. Tonight and as always he thanked his weather anChor, telling her that viewers believe her more than we do the Met dept. And then he swung around and brandished us (any of us who aren't part of his Chosen 'Viewers') to 'pay Close attention'. Quite funny that - for we were listening when NDTV's weather report yesterday predicted rain today in Delhi and down here in the Capital as of 10:06 pm the day after, we're still listening!!

But that's not what got me irked on the mighty 'C' sword he weilds with such arrogant Charm.

The story - The assasination of Sri Lankan foreign minister.
Last night Prannoy Roy Came in informing us that his brave reporters, in the thick with the LTTE, had eliCited an exclusive denial. (Never mind that LTTE has denied just about any and every assassination and attempt of)
The LTTE Confessed to having no hand in the assassination. Of Course, while we waited to see just what our brave reporters were unravelling, we lost all footage.
Was Dr. Roy fazed? No, ( I do now suspeCt that this was a post-recording editing job) for not for a single second was Dr. Roy even aware of what had even happened.

Today the LTTE's political spokesperson was heard reassuring India that we do not have to 'fear', for the LTTE would not now or in the future use their arms against us or our leaders ( Yeah right! Like Rajiv was not plenty enough)
Next we were on the phone with the Sri Lankan milatary. EaCh word uttered by them was measured against NDTV's interview in the heartland (a la Chamba valley - no less) of LTTE.

The question remains: While the LTTE has denied a hand in the assassination, what is the evidence that the Govt of Sri Lanka possess?

Does NDTV care? NO! All the news channel does care about is promoting it's own bravado ( however hare-brained the motive of the project) and it's (in)accurate weather news (Dr. Roy: Thank you dear - News Anchor: You're welcome, Chacha Roy)

Is media Credible?
Why do media Companies repeat the same two bits of news over and over again, lest we suCCumb. Are our minds that fuddled?
What will it take for the media to admit that they fumble?
Why are most media professionals and a growing seCtion of eager bloggers smug about their perCeived swords of justice?

Let me leave you with a startling Connection between modern literary aesthetiCism and the Contemporary worlds' indifference to violence (read truth) - Courtesy, a Bosnian writer Dzevad Karahasan. He said " The decision to perceive literally everything as an aethetic phenomenon - completely sidestepping questions about goodness and truth - is an artistic decision. That decision started in the realm of art, and went on to become characteristic of the contemporary world.' ( further courtesy - Amitav Ghosh, Tehelka)

McLeod Ganj - To and back

noreply@blogspirit.com (Priya Banati) — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 18:54:09 +0530

Phul Phul Bawara dole, man mein goonje tere yaad
Bhag mein papiya bole pihu pihu piya kahan

A young man, all of four feet, with a paunchy stomach, overweight (well fed) broke into this song while I was standing in queue to buy tickets. The words fell off his lips in unrestrained unadultered joy and just as the adults ahead of him swung around to look at him, he faltered and then crossed his legs awkwardly as the rest of his body froze in it's shameless burst of joy.

We were buying tickets to the rock garden at Chandigarh. Dedicated to the creative people of India, this was a treat. Recycling tiles, wires, plates, mugs, bags, sacks and just about anything else to create a populous world - the treat is not just on display but in the path itself. There is no clear pathway - instead it's like in a jungle, something inside me, quiet and wise, whispers the way. As I trudged along not sure, not clear, the path did twist, turn and lo and behold brought me to a spot that bettered anything I had imagined. And inside me, I heard that same voice giggle some more. Vistas are clues, depths delusional. Look but don't follow what you see. Instead listen, listen for that voice. The path might seem long, with twists, turns and more drama. It's the only path to the waterfall. The rock garden opens into a courtyard fashioned like a mela with tall swings, multiple stalls and a very loud dance platform with two Sardarjis playing punjabi music! We didn't hang out here long and that's sad because the setting was as delectable as the rest. Why, on a summer afternoon of 44 degrees Celsius will kids want to dance to Bhangra Pop, is beyond me! There were no kids, just the Sardarjis and their music blaring out loud speakers!

The Rock Garden was the last stop in a three day trip to the hills - McLeod Ganj. Though it was warm up in the hills, it didn't stop us from walking up, down, up, up, up, down and down. The first evening, I got to see the Dhauladhar snow peaked range. In a single moment, I imagined McLeod Ganj without the Tibetans, the Israelis, the shacks, the open drainage, the stoned /cement roads, the Indian tourists, the Monasteries or the Italian Cafes - All I had in mind was of this valley and peak set against the Dhauladhar. Then imagine your mind unrolling itself from your two feet all the way up to the heads of the range, rolling over and falling over, only to carry on to the next peak.
McLeod Ganj smells. It smells of the Israelis who are everywhere now. Walk into a cyber cafe and the keyboards have Israeli alphabets stuck on in yellow paper and tape. Walk into a street restaurant and you will be presented with an Israeli menu.
It mostly smells however of the open drain. It didn't seem to bother the monks. It did the Indians but they had the choice to leave and come back and then leave again. It didn't bother the Indian tourists who just zipped up and down in their cars, blaring their horns and looking for Punjabi Dhabas.
The Dalai Lama was home, this time around. He was to teach, starting Friday. Wendy and I went for a long walk down and up roads and lanes and in a round about way reached the Nangyal Monastery, or the Dalai Lama temple. The number of monks and visitors to listen in to the teachings was astonishing. I remember walking up the steps to a large courtyard of seated disciples. Each monk had two really big brown books open and ready for consultation.
To be continued...

Weekend in Orissa

noreply@blogspirit.com (Priya Banati) — Mon, 13 Jun 2005 17:07:27 +0530

There's something amiss with the scale of the buildings at the Mayfair lagoon, Bhubaneshwar. Like with the people at the restaurant and around, who all seem to be living a larger life. I feel like I'm caught unaware in the middle of a play, and every now & then I feel the need to touch something.
Bhubaneshwar, the little of what I've seen, is a town coming together in a rather large, yet wild and unpredictable way. The humid head doesn't help me register vistas clearly, despite my shades and cap.
I did get to see a temple, the kind who's receding top halp resembles the tresses of a dark, wholesome woman.
Bhubaneshwar with Cuttack are twin cities. The vegetation is akin to coastal, hot and humid climates. The advertisements are like most small towns, painted on walls like official stamps.
There is construction abound, in odd places. I also learnt on the flight over that Bhubaneshwar was planned by none other than Corbusier himself. I have not seen any suited examples of it though.
Coming back to the sprawling lagoon I'm at, scale issues apart, I really like the plan. Low and sprawling, with a lagoon swanked by two arms on either side. Each arm is dotted by cottages that on one side opens out to the lagoon. Walking down open corridors, more rooms open up to common spaces, a swimming pool, a pool table, all of which culminate at the Spa & Sports center (tennis, squash and billiards).
This trip is not going to be about explorign Bhubaneshwar. That will need to wait till our next trip here.

The morning after:
I wake up to Venkatesh Suprabatam. It's quarter to seven and already the sun is up and blazing. There is no wind and the lagoon for it's exoticness is not doing anything to battle the heat. Red ants are plenty here, a few of them trying to make a snack of my feet. Smaller beings always come with twice as much ambition.
I don't feel like I am in India. I don't mean that this in the 'This is too good to be India' sense. Thats for the defiant foreign bound citizens and the cocky inward bound NRIs to claim.
Since we arrived yesterday evening, I've felt removed. The vegetation, the advertisements, the traffic, the faces all look familiar. Yet I feel displaced.
There are differences here that I can't tap into. There is a certain closed off attitude of people who consider themselves the sweetest race of all. Yesterday I learnt that if you put a rasogolla in your mouth and speak Oriya, it will sound like Bengali. There is a deep rooted pride in this region, that isn't like punjabi pop. I haven't toasted the sweet part yet. There is also a place of distinguishments, as dense as the vegetation, as permeating as the heat. While I do not feel like a foreigner, I have yet to distinguish myself.
I'm now listening to 'Choli ke peeche kya hai' in a spiritual remix attributed to our many Hindu goddesses. The ability of humans to ponder and arrive at solutions is remarkable. On the highway, yesterday, I saw a sign - 1258 km Chennai. That was comforting and also helped orient me to where I am.
Art on the other hand asks all the exaggerated questions.
We do have a small temple jutting out into the center of the lagoon. The priest just did a water abhishekham. It is just too hot to be morning anymore.

Focused lack of attention

noreply@blogspirit.com (Priya Banati) — Wed, 11 May 2005 14:36:49 +0530

For all of Oprah's silly and wonderful shows, this one truly had me! 11 of the most macho men who were wholly into sports were asked to be women for three days.
They started with the transformation - waxed bodies, hair, nails, outfit and all. Next they went on to going in public and living in their houses as the 'woman' to even spending a day doing their respective wives or girlfriend's chores.
Watching this show, part of me is going 'silly', 'silly', 'silly' - - down to the point where one man who went through this experience was so transformed that he decided to propose to his girlfriend right there on Oprah!
When asked what did this do to you guys? Some guys said :
'It's the little things that I gained insights on - - like I love my convertible and I hate it when my girlfriend wants me to keep the top down...and there I was - my hair was flying about'
' I always felt like I was lopsided - my chest...'
' The worst thing about it was the waxing - it was brutal - - it felt like I was on that table for days!!'
' As a man, if some guy came up to me and said i like your outfit - i would go whoa!! but It felt good and it's one thing I am taking from this show - I got a compliment from my wife even'
'I always thought it all just got done - I didn't realize the amount of hours my wife would spend taking care of us, after a day at work'

My favorite response however was from this large man who looked like a Harley Davidson man with short hair. He was decidedly the largest amongst the group. He said that he was very emotionally hurt because no matter where the group went, he was always the one to be ignored. He called it a state of 'focused lack of attention'.

I heard that and thought 'I'm quitting my weight program NOW' - if only to just empathize with the truth of what this man said. While men can go around in all sizes (as per what the men said on the show - just in case someone thinks I am being sexist again!), large women are conditionally eliminated from our social consciousness.
'Here I am with a good personality and yet noone wants to even get to know me'
Those were the reactions of this large man.
'Everyone has a inner beauty. Yet, we are socially conditioned with images of what we think a 'good looking' woman is about and that limits us to experiencing the beauty in other larger women'.

Focused lack of attention : Is that what we know as blindness?

Go Boggie!!!!

noreply@blogspirit.com (Priya Banati) — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 10:30:22 +0530

I am addicted to American Idol because of people like Bo Wyse. I love Bo because he makes me feel sexy. He makes me want to sit down, cross my legs, keep my back straight and smile about something terribly naughty in my head. And no, it has nothing to do with him.

That's the kind of connection he spins on TV. He makes me lose myself in the magic that is me.

And no, I don't agree with Simon. Bo doesn't need to bring in his rock influence to popular songs. We need the popular songs to help 'tolerate' the bad singers. We need singers like Bo who choose songs that mean something to them and then turn it around to mean something for each of us.
I believe that three shows ago, Bo set his standard with that slow number about the candle. After that, he's just been hanging around while everybody else plays catch up.

This contest is not just about your voice box. You need a pretty decent voice box to get up there in the last ten. After that though, it's more about who you are - your ups and downs. Clearly the kids - Anwar, Anthony, Vonzel and Scotty are just that - kids. They need time to shape their hearts, their heads. We need to let them leave the competition to grow.
Too much of time in America is spent trying to find the youngest wonder because as we see twenty years hence, they aren't wonders anymore. They are like bonzais, stunted in their splendor!

We need singers like Bo and Nadia who show us what more we can find once we get past thier voice boxes. Here are individuals who despite everything that life throws at them are still there sculpting their craft to something that is inspired by God himself.

Go Boggie!!!

Hello Sun

noreply@blogspirit.com (Priya Banati) — Wed, 06 Apr 2005 08:32:19 +0530

Every morning I wake up to chase after the sun. Each week I set my alarm fifteen minutes ahead the previous week's time and to no avail. Each morning, as I drive down to the park, the sun is up and smiling. After that brief encounter, it's then retreat all the way back. Out come the shades, the hats, the blinds, the shorts and t-shirts: Anything to get the sun to back off.
Summers in Delhi are as grueling as the winters and it's a serious job for the sensible Delhite.