The Proposal

Jeez no! Not that proposal. I'm referring to the Sandra Bullock-starrer movie that I happened to see. I do not watch a lot of English movies. Reason being I do not seem to get the accent most times. Well yeah, that's true! Might go into Ripley's Believe It Or Not yet that is how it is :D

For a change, I understood this movie (if there was anything to be understood that is)! An achievement in itself. The movie is pretty okay kinds. Nothing really to write . There are a couple of very very hilarious moments though. The laugh at those moments makes up for pretty much everything or the lack of it.

Somehow, I suffer from a mental hallucination that English movies must not be as 'simple' and 'irrelevant' as most Bollywood ones. I expect all of them to have some message to give out. I know, it is a stupid thought. That's why I said it is just a mind thingie.

Nevertheless, after a long gap I caught up on a Hollywood release for a change. And that too before seeing New York! Whoa, what am I upto!!

Sach ka Saamna

I had commented on a show called 'The moment of truth' and had wondered whether there would be a remake of the show in India. Well, yes. I see now that a show called 'Sach ka Saamna' is going to be aired starting tomorrow in Star Plus!

Well, looking forward to it. Must be interesting to see whether the questions are as potential relationship breakers as in its US counter-part.

Brilliant print advertisements

Received this as a forward.. set of some very effective print advertisements

The headline is a beautiful play of words - Save Trees. Trees save. And the visual impact is quite stunning.

This is a very catchy ad for a karate school. Looks like they have a very practical approach to learning it!

The ad says: 'Harry's bread. Nice and Soft.' Indeed.

This is a print ad taken out by Rodasol insect killer in the Obituary section of a newspaper. Death to the Bugs!!

Says it all.

A very interesting print ad by Frizz skin salon. Catchy.

Thank God the zoom was invented!

Here is one of the best anti-smoking ad, released by Cancer Patients Aid Association.

A very simple but hard-hitting advertisement by the Mumbai Traffic Police on the importance of wearing helmet.

Drunk drivers get preference over others in prime parking spots. Surprised? Here's how!

One of the best, by Seagram, that asks drivers to choose carefully between two things!

IWC, the famous Swiss watch makers, used these stickers on the holds in airport buses to catch the attention of travelling pilots and other passengers for their new 'Big Pilot's Watch'.

A 'Don't Drink and Drive' campaign by Vasir breweries on their beer bottle caps. Upon opening the bottle, the car printed on the cap appears bent, and on reverse we get the simple slogan.

Where has it disappeared?

I met one of my students in the train the other day. He was reading The white tiger. It is a rare sight these days to see someone as young as him (probably in his late teens) reading a book, leave aside reading something like the one he was. Reading, as important as it is, is increasingly becoming a rare habit that the younger lot is relishing. With television, games and internet to lure them, a relatively boring activity like reading is getting ignored. Yet, it is supremely important, perhaps more than anything else. A person who enjoys reading can spend an entire life-time doing just that and still adding value to herself as each day she goes through the pages of any good book. The school surely has a lot to do when it comes to inculcating reading as a habit. So does the parents and mentors of the child. Somewhere, the rat race for marks and grades is killing this beautiful aspect of child development. What is left are those rare ones who develop this habit somehow and sticks to it.

I love suggesting reading to anyone who appreciates suggestions! Be it my studens or friends. For, it is needed. In a typical batch where I teach, the response to my question about how many of them actively read books beyond their academic syllabi is not very encouraging. I am talking of an above average batch of students pursuing Chartered Accountancy. Sure, there are few who are avid readers. Yet there are many who are not. And the difference shows up sooner or later. Be it in the number of mistakes they make while they converse in English, be it the language they produce in their writings or even in the basic confidence level they exhibit while communicating. For all this to be good, grip over language and its usage is necessary. And I do not know of any better way of developing these skills than by reading a lot.

Reading gives you perspective. It makes you think about aspects you would not have thought of otherwise. It takes you to a world you would not have traveled otherwise. Books, by reading them, have the power to change you for the better. In thoughts and actions likewise.

I'm glad I love to read. I could survive happily by doing only that. One of the dream lives for me is having enough money to buy any book I wish to and spend all the time I have reading. Whatever grasp I have over language and writing is all due to the reading I could manage over the years. It defines a large part of what I am today.

Please do whatever you can to make a child take into reading. You never know how it transforms the child into an excellent human being and a person to look upto. It is probably the best gift we could give to a child and the generation that follows us.

Some day hopefully...

... I'll do these things :)

1. Write a book that goes on to become a best-seller.

2. Start a full-fledged NGO primarily (but not restricted to) working for under-privileged children.

3. Give a live performance by playing Tabla, preferably supporting a vocal artist [within that, preferably a Ghazal singer (within that, preferably Jagjit Singh or Hariharan!)] I am yet to learn how to handle Tabla though.

4. Give a talk to a gathering of thousands and thousands of people on love!

5. Be a RJ and host a show on radio.

6. Be a pre-paid cab driver, say for Meru, Easy Cabs..etc, for at least a day! Bizarre but true :)