My Favourite Shahrukh Khan movies

Shahrukh Khan was the biggest superstar for most of my growing up life. And while he has been part of numerous blockbusters, there have been certain roles by him that have stayed with me, and for sure showed the audience (and myself) certain acting nuances which would have otherwise undiscovered.

3 of his movies which have remained with me and which I think were his best in terms of acting skills were Swades, My Name is Khan and Chak De India. They might not be his biggest block busters, but he did make sure he touched a chord within me in each of them.

Swades the first one of them was a commercial failure, not everyone's cup of tea and definitely not mainstream.The story of Mohan, trying to find his nanny from yesteryears after spending most of his youth and adult life in the US was something thought provoking. What touched me is his act when he interacts with the villagers and the poorest of the poor in India. There is this one scene where he goes to collect rent from someone - and finds how life actually is. There is this particular sequence where he is in a train, while a boy outside is vending drinking water for 25 paise (Rs. 0.25). There is no dialogue, but his face and eye expressions were priceless. Gives me goosebumps even today when i think of the economic disparity in India  exposed in that one scene.

My Name is Khan is another stunner - as he handles both religious and racial discrimination in his quest to meet POTUS, as he seeks retribution for the death of his son due to a fight as a result of religious discrimination in the aftermath of 9/11. He is also handicapped by a disorder which limits his ability to interact and emote. This one did well overseas , and decently in India too. The whole movie is a treat - and shows how a man who shrugs off negativity thrown his way to come up a winner against a system prejudiced against him.

Chak De is the most commercially successful of this list (at least in India). In this one the script itself does a lot of the work and the support cast is great too. However the story inspired by true events ( former Indian field hockey player Negi) of a man who got accused of throwing away a match due to his religious background. Years later, still bearing the scar of that accusation he comes back to coach the women's team to word cup glory. Scene of the movie for me? Probably the end when he visits his old home.

The importance of data led decisions

Of late there has been great talk around data getting captured in whatever we do...people use various hyperbolic statements about how some fictional 'Big Boss' personaility uses all this data to manipulate us. I am not saying these concerns are unfounded, however I have long back understood not to worry about things beyond your control. And I think that is the way to go for me.

I digress. I have become a big fan of data based decision making. Its basically of getting the odds in your favour using data rather than what others say or by conventional wisdom. I am not talking only about buying products and looking at reviews. You can perhaps decide what area of a particular city you want to stay in based on data , especially if you have a well developed data system in your city. You could perhaps decide what investments have been working well, based on actual data. a real life example is that recently, a friend of mine asked me about potential for jobs in our field of work, and I did a very interesting 'project' for him where i found out which city from a list of cities had least competition in terms of jobs. and I am sure you can use this for various decision making processes...Moving to a new city ? find out which neighbourhood has certain kind of housing / transport / demographics. Not gross number of jobs but potential applicants per job - and it confirmed what i always thought - competition in the GTA is higher than other cities. and we could apply this in many of our choices - rather than going with 'conventional wisdom' please use data to make informed decisions. I am not saying all decisions will be right, but now the odds will be on your side.

People's movements in politics

Arvind Kejriwal is the flavour of the season in India right now. He manages to grab all the media attention without spending the huge amounts of PR (Public Relations) money his peers, Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi have been spending. And that's not surprising. His party has born out of a people's movement and hence had received support from the media right from the beginning. His mentor and former Guru Anna Hazare's IAC movement(India against corruption) was widely publicised. When Anna's movement failed, Arvind could not sit back and watch hopelessly from the sidelines and entered politics. After a great debut in Delhi in 2013, he wants to capture the national stage in 2014. He might well be the party pooper for the major alliances.

There are others too who could to enter politics on the fringes of a people's movement. In Italy, a movement of a similar kind called Five Star Movement is become active under comedian turned activist Beppe Grillo. They contested the 2013 general elections and got 25% of votes. They were the in the top 2 largest parties by number of seats won but lower than the major political coalitions. They will probably get their turn in the next general elections.

Imran Khan in Pakistan has also been a social crusader before his entry into mainstream politics. He has won power in a province, and might get to power in the next general elections.

Open up

I have been growing a a person in the  last few years. I have come to start respecting different cultures and languages, trying out new cuisines and doing things which are not in my comfort zone.Flexibility and willingness to adapt is the hallmark of a evolving person. I look at myself wanting to develop into such a person. One who understands different cultures, open to experimentation and looking forward to discovering new things. If one is willing to keep one;s mind open, it opens up new doors of opportunities. It also helps you to assimilate with other people more easily and be acceptable.

I have notices that being a people person is not a challenge as long as you can understand other people and learn by observing. Being one dimensional does not really work today. It is the era of mutifacetness and multi tasking. Those who can't adapt will be found out. Very much like how a T20 batsman will be found out in a test match

The Sinful Tongue

It is so true that most sins are committed by the tongue. It can erase all the goodwill and good work that you might have done with a particular person or on a a particular project. It can harm relationships - the damage depends on the amount of venom you spew .

How many times we regret what we say, just after saying it, and wishing we never said it. And although people do 'take back their words' , does it really work that way?

A Tale of Two Cities

I happened to be in Delhi this weekend as it was the main city on the way to my destination - Khurja - to observe fieldwork. Khurja – unknown to many - is a small town in western UP some 150 Kms from Delhi. The town's population is only 1 lac in sharp contrast to neighboring Delhi's population of 1.26 crores.

The contrast was alarming in a lot of other ways too. The 150 KM seems like a time trail with a gap of 150 months between the towns. Apart from one being a small town and another the country's capital, yet the differences are too stark and even surprising for me.

First let’s talk of basics … Khurja full of overflowing gutters, and garbage strewn around and monsoons only made it worse. There was only one "khotwali' in Khurja where I couldn’t even spot one havaldar. Khurja had only one Hotel with only10 rooms! The town had no restaurants. Yes not even one! There was a roadside Dhaba where we had to go to have our fill. The main mode of transport within the town is cycle rickshaw and if you want to go to the railway station (5 KM from main town), then its a tempo rickshaw ride. People are filled in like sardines and I was lucky to be inside the sardine tin and not hanging out like some others.

In sharp contrast, Delhi was much better and cleaner, except some parts in East Delhi. Accommodation for visitors to the capital is not at all a problem as I am sure Delhi has more than 2000 hotels. In Delhi one can see that even security is very well taken care of. Transport in Delhi is well taken care of with its Metro or Rickshaw and the nice CWG buses which some commuters use.

Now let’s come to other things. Delhi is known for eve teasing but even then the advent of the metro has changed the way the women in the city feel about their safety. Girls are no longer afraid of being groped at as in the Blue Line buses and are free to wear what they want and travel in the ladies compartment of the Metro. In Khurja post 7 PM it is difficult to see women folk. Even in the day they walk in groups or with other male members of their family.

Cinema being one of my passions I was irked that Khurja has only 2 theatres. One theatre, which looks the younger of the two, currently plays the Imran Khan Starrer 'Delhi Belly' while the older one plays a suggestively titled ' Taank Jhaank'. This feels so distant from the many multiplexes sported in the capital city.

I strongly feel that this disparity in the distribution of developmental resources is somewhere close to the whole poor - rich divide which haunts India. The silver lining to the cloud is that there is hope though - I saw all the top FMCG brands in Khurja. Maybe not the really classy ones like Loreal but definitely the Garnier Shampoos and the Gillette shave gels were there.

All in all a question that comes to mind … if the FMCGs could see hope in the Khurjas of the country then why can't the government?

Rains and the Economy

We all know the co-realtion between good rains and the economy. In India we always thought that as we are an agriculture domianted economy, we are very dependent on rains .

However an interesting thought came to my mind the other day. Rains are great for the urban economy too. Look at Mumbai as an example. The moment it rains, all rickshaw and taxi drivers who otherwise have no 'bhada' are in business. people who normally take buses / trains will take rick / taxi to reach their destinations. The other day there were no ricks at the arrivals where normally there is a serpentine queque of ricks and supply overshoots demand. Why? because it was raining and the rickshaws in the area had already got long haul passengers to bother waiting at the airport.

talking of rains, we in mumbai are hoping it rains well this year and fills all our water supplying lakes. Keep your fingers crossed.

The Morning after

Monday 26th April...the day after Mumbai Indians lost the IPL finals

the scene in mumbai in the morning was pretty much like a funeral procession. There were people who had mustered up the strength to get traveling, but the usual energy was missing...no fights, no pushing for seats

In office too people worked like silent zombies...the depression getting to them.

Quite a contrast to Sep 2007 when Dhoni and Co got the T20 world cup home...man did the same Mumbai celebrate and how...open air bus to welcome the heroes home!!!!

If franchisee loyalty is what IPL wanted, it's engraved by leaps and bounds into the Mumbaikar after this season. people already awaiting the Champions T20 and billing it as revenge time...

For the record - by Tuesday Mumbai was back to life ..the usual way :)

20 minutes at Churchgate Station

Sitting at Churchgate staion is an experience. Varied people. Varied Situations. TC's. Gaurds. People of foreign origin. People wanting to go outstation. What a melting pot



Last weeend, I was to meet up with a friend near Churchgate. Since I came in early, I decided to spend time at the station itself.

I took up a vacant seat at the of a platform and began observing.

It was very interesting. First the symchronisations amongst gaurds. They arrive well before the local arrives. Then they wait pateiently for the motorman gets down and then get in and take command. And when the big digital clock at the strikes time , they blow the whistle and set off the train. Some dont blow whistles though.

People coming in are also varied-some ask the gaurd where the is going, some ask the motorman who bought the local in. Poor guy looks at the indicator and tells them.

Saw a group of woman who loked like have come from the Middle East- asking if the train went to bandra. Problem is she asked the gentleman next to me in English and that guy had no clue. I intervened and helped them. :)
Next came along a young man wanting to go to Valsad. We (me and that other gentleman who doesnt know English) told him that train doesnt go directly and he will have to go to Mumbai central and get an outstation train.

Two young women who just got down from an incoming train were caught by the TC and asked for tickets. As it turned out these girls did not have valid tickets or their pass had expired. They were trying to convince the TC and trying to wriglle out of teh situation without a fine by smoothtalking. I wanted to watch what happens further, but just tehn my friend called up and I had to go. It would be interseting to see what finally happened. maybe they asked the TC to overlook their mistake as it was Women's Day that day...

Ganguly's swansong

I really liked the way Ganguly celebrated after he got his 100 in the 2nd Test at Mohali....The joy of the man who knew that he was not going as a sore loser but on his own terms.

He is certainly not the unfit (atleast not as much as Laxman and Kumble currently) but still he had so much to prove to all...and that he did

I read some days ago on how India lost out on 3-4 years of Javagal Srinath in his youth, just because Kapil wanted to retire after getting to Hadlee's record...that is still happening with the current Inidan team...I only hope the careers of people like Mishra, Gambhir and Co go don't go that way.