What does Independence mean to you? A day off from work or school, to listen to your grand-parents reminisce about the distant past, to attend traditional day functions in your office or college, or to listen to patriotic songs all day long? Or does it mean something more?

Let us first define what is freedom. According to our Constitution, the Right to Freedom is one of the fundamental rights guaranteed to all citizens. Within this is the freedom of speech and expressions, fredom to assemble peacefully without arms, freedom to move freely throughout the territory of India, freedom to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India. How many of these are being violated today without anyone being culpable of these violations?

MF Hussain has to leave the country in a self-imposed exile because of the constant bickering and protests against his work.

An effigy of James Laine is burnt because he wrote a book on Chhatrapati Shivaji which his “supporters” did not approve. One of the historians who helped Laine research this book – Shrikant Bahulkar – was assaulted and had his face blackened by Shiv Sena activists.

Film makers have to get their films approved from political parties or religious groups to ensure that there are no untoward incidents while screening of movies. The list of such movies is endless – Sarkar and Singhh is King are just two examples.

People settling in Mumbai from other states are threatened and assaulted as they are “stealing” the jobs of domiciles.

Where is the freedom in all these incidents?

To me it seems, the only people free in this country are the politicians and the scamsters – free to go about their crooked ways, making money for themselves and not caring two hoots about the country, the citizens or any one else. Lalit Modi, Suresh Kalmadi, Sharad Pawar, Raj Thackeray, Bal Thackeray, the Reddy brothers – just a few examples of the people destroying the country.

I respect my country and the past leaders who fought for our freedom, but it seems that the current bunch of -leaders- politicians are all set to reverse the effort that was made. No sir, you can go about playing your patriotic songs, attending co-op society meets on how we can all live in communal and social harmony. You can buy flags for your cars and vehicles and throw them away in the mud after the Independence week is over. I, sadly, do not want to be part of such pseudo-secular patriotism.

If you have not watched Inception, don’t read this post. There are movie spoilers. For those who have watched it, read on.

The importance of the spinning top at the end of the film is a matter of debate. Some people say the spinning top symbolises that Cobb meeting up with his kids is also a dream (he should have waited for the top to fall before assuming that he is in the real world). Others say, it was real as in the end just before the credits, the top starts wobbling (and is thus about to fall). That debate is not the subject of this post.

What I want to point out is the link between Inception and the Matrix.

Was Inception the prequel to the Matrix movies? Why do I think so? Read on.

The major character that links both the movies, is of course Cobb. My theory? Cobb (of Inception) is the Architect (of the Matrix).

Sounds implausible? Not to me.

- Assume that Cobb at the end of the movie is in the real world. United with his family.
- Fast-forward 30 years into the future.
- Cobb has again started designing new worlds. He has now become the Architect.
- Inception is now common knowledge.
- Rogue specialists have mastered the art of inserting ideas into people’s dreams and are now called Agents.
- Enter Neo.
- At some point in the movie, Neo meets the Architect.
- And there lies the link between the two movies.

Sure they may be flaws in the above logic. Would be glad if someone points them out.

Previously I had posted about this movie – based on a real story of a teenager who sets out to “live off the land”.

Right now I’m reading the book of the same name while traveling back to Mumbai.

There are a lot of differences between the movie and the book. The movie simply romanticizes McCandless’ journey and the adventures he had along the way. Nowhere in the movie there is a constant reminder to the viewer of the innumerous perils which a traveler may face if unprepared. Watching the movie for the first time had made me want to throw away my laptop bag, burn all my visiting cards, deactivate all my email accounts, permanently switch off my cellphone and head out on the road.

But the book is more sober and realistic. There are constant reminders to what may go wrong in such a journey. Other such adventurers are referenced who lost their way while following the call of the wild.

The movie (directed by Sean Penn) was beautiful but the book (authored by Jon Krakauer) is responsible.

Between the movie and the book, I still like the movie more. The sights of Alaska have a totally different pull than reading about the dangers.

I surely can’t leave the life I’m living and set out on such a journey. But I hope this book can. I was thinking of an experiment. I was planning to leave this book abandoned somewhere where someone with a more adventurous spirit would come across it and take it forward from there.

Maybe I can leave it in this train itself, maybe in a taxi someday. Someone may decide to follow the trail of McCandles and return successfully.

Say no more often to others. Say yes more often to yourself.

1) Mother-in-law – How’s the food I made, son?

2) Boss – Do you think I am a good boss?

3) Wife – Do I look fat in this?

A huge disclaimer: The above post doesn’t absolutely in any way apply to me. All three people mentioned above for me are wonderful.

A couple of days ago, I ranted about traffic in Mumbai and how a lack of common sense prevents everyone from enjoying a smooth commute. As if on cue, McKinsey Global Institute has released a report on the increasing urbanization of India and how cities are expected to grow rapidly in the near future.

Here are some excerpts from the report. By 2030, in India:-

* 590 million people will live in cities. This is twice the population of the US today

* 70% of net new employment will be generated in cities

* 68 cities will have population of 1 million plus. The whole of Europe has only 35 such cities today.

* 700-900 million sqmetres of commercial and residential space needs to be built. That is equivalent to building a new Chicago or two Mumbais every year!

* 7400km of metros and subways will need to be constructed, which is 20 times the capacity added in the past decade.

* Five large states – Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Punjab will have more people living in cities than in villages.

* Private car ownership would increase, shortcomings in the transportation infrastructure have the potential to create urban gridlock.

* The road transportation gap will rise from 210 thousand lane kms to 440 thousand lane kms. (Yipee, more traffic jams for the same price)

Yes, India’s cities are growing at a rapid pace, and people are migrating to big cities. The most important question now is whether the government is up to it. Is the government going to create PPP models for developing urban infrastructure? Is it going to go the China way by creating SPVs? Or will it twiddle its thumbs while India wastes away its demographic divided? Profound questions the answers to which will be more profound.

PS. Is it ironic that I’m writing this while I’m stuck in a traffic jam?

If there was one single thing which attracted me to this book, it was the cover. A muscular Shiva riddled with battle scars, hiding a trishul behind his back. And of course the title. The Immortals of Meluha. The title itself exudes adventure.

And so I bought the book. How is the book? Well the story is about the adventure of a tribal chieftain from Tibet called Shiva. The story is about his journey to a fabled land called Meluha. The story is about the fight between the Suryavanshis and the Chandravanshis, and a few Nagas thrown in between.

The book shows promise, the story is well-paced and the premise of the story – about a mortal attaining Godhood – is something innovative.

The downside. The book seems written in haste. There are many scenes which the author could have elaborated. If the author would have taken some time to build the character sketches, the story would be more believable. Here all characters seem artificial. Parvateshwar, Daksha, Ayurvati – all seem paper-thin, all of them humble (Shiva included) to the point of being irritating. There are numerous passages where all the characters do is to be modest and heap all the credit on the other person, who then bounces back the credit to the previous person. The battle scenes too are quickly ended (The climactic battle with the Chandravanshis also seems something straight out of 300) It seems to me that a potentially bestseller premise has been wasted, atleast in the first book.

Another jarring aspect of the book was the use of modern terminology – like orientation executive etc to describe some of the characters and events. The author could have used more traditional words to blend in with the story more smoothly.

Having said this, the book is well-written for a debutante. Amish looks promising if he takes time to develop his characters and story. I enjoyed reading the first book of the trilogy. Time will decide if I buy the other two books as well.

Endnote: Ever since I read the first chapter, a niggling thought occupied my mind till the end. I couldn’t exactly understand what it was. When I finished the book and turned to the inside flap, I realized what it was. Amish is a graduate of IIM. Another one bites the dust.

First a short background. Tonight our car got towed. This was when we were having a dinner consisting of dosai and idlis. Not only was the food bad, we were in for a rude shock when we saw another car parked where we had parked our car. We did a double check, walked through the entire parking lot just to make sure but then reality sank in. The car was gone. It had been towed.

Now to cut a long story short, we got the car back after paying the requisite fine. But while paying the fine, I saw at least 10 other towing receipts in front of me. A quick back on the envelope calculation follows:-

Let’s assume 16 receipts per day (probably up to 20). 16 * 300 = 4800Rs. 4800 * 30 = Rs1.44 lakhs. Assume 30 police chowkis in Mumbai. Rs30 lakhs per month to the Mumbai pandus. Wonder how much of this goes in to their stomachs.

But while researching traffic rules, I stumbled upon this gem of a FAQ. The Mumbai police explaining traffic rules to inquisitive questioners. The helmet section is a hoot. Check out this question for instance:-

Question: Why must I wear a helmet?

When man was created, he was quipped with a skull to protect his brain. This original protection measure ” set-up” was effective in the then soft environment which was man’s normal habitat’. As man evolved, he started by taming the horse, as he outgrew the speed capability of the horse, he began searching for faster modes of travel. He first developed the steam engine, followed by the internal combustion engine and then the turbine. Man, while he has succeeded in propelling himself at speeds that would have scared his ancestors, has also changed his surroundings to hard unyielding surfaces both horizontal and vertical.

Unfortunately, he has not been able to transform himself to the protective needs of his new lifestyle and environment. The helmet is, therefore, necessary and just a link in the long chain of safety equipment and counter measures man has to use in his present surroundings.

Lol. Talk about beating the bush. The author of this FAQ would make a good consultant. Read the entire Mumbai traffic police FAQ at your leisure.

IIFL (India Infoline)

With this post I began a long neglected hobby of mine. Criticizing ads. On TV, in newspapers ads are all around us. Some are good, some are bad and some are downright ugly. This is my effort in tearing apart the ugly, criticizing the bad and appreciating the good.

The ad industry is very close to me, almost like a dear brother lost in the kumbh-mela of the career rat race (…if you can make any sense of that sentence). I begin this endeavour with a few ads which have been making the rounds these days. One of them is the IIFL ad. This is for India Infoline a financial services company who has always seeemed to be struggling to define its brand identity. In its latest move, to renew its brand it has come out with an ad saying it has shortened its name to IIFL (India InFoLine).

Two things against this change. First, the capitalization makes no sense. Random letter capitalized to make a short form. Secondly they have come out with an ad today (http://epaper.livemint.com/ArticleImageEx.aspx?article=31_03_2010_015_003&type=1&mode=1) saying “Short is Great” and justifying their short name with famous personalities like Sachin, Gandhi, Picasso who were of “short height”. This comparison seems like a huge generalization and irrelevant if you ask me. The good thing about this ad is that it has been smartly executed. Short. Crisp. The way I like it.

AdMeter Rating: 2.5/5

PS. May I suggest IIFL to add Kim Jong Il (at a height multiple of 5′3″) to your portfolio for better diversification.