What a life!

Friday 14 August 2009

Weekend

While in some ways, I have still to get used to having a Thursday and Friday as a weekend instead of a Saturday and Sunday, a weekend that too a rare one where I am actually sitting at home and successfully managing to keep work out of my head -- whoohoo it is one to be enjoyed.

In the service industry, to which Advertising also belongs, there really isn't a time when you are not working. And that's fine too because being creative or an idea creator never has a fixed time and place. It can happen anywhere, anytime and under any circumstances. Equally those people who are called 'suits' in the industry parlance - those people who manage the client interface, are also on call every minute, for you never know when a situation arises which requires rapid response.

Considering that fact that the digital age has only made life faster and as complicated, as easy (a conundrum, if ever!), the word speed takes on new meaning every day. In management speak, time to market.

So, to all those lovely people out there who are working really hard to keep the rest of us happy and satisfied, I raise a toast. May the power be with you!

(hmm... thinking about power, that's probably another post)

Thursday 13 August 2009

Life moves in circles for sure...

There was a time, when I was in the ad industry. Then came the stint in the 'client side' so to speak. Now am back in the ad industry. It still is very stressful, but certainly also a lot of fun. Everyday brings new challenges and each day, one learns something new in dealing with the situations, the people and the place.

Sunday 26 October 2008

Wilderness - 1

Nature truly is magnificent. And this is embodied by the plethora of flora, fauna and foliage that makes the wilderness simply amazing.

I feel that I have been truly lucky to have experienced a part of such a reality, that sadly us humans are destroying mindlessly and may not last for ever unless we do make an effort (however little) to support its conservation.

Many thanks to Karthik Ramachandran (do vis

it his

blog: http://conservationofwildlife.blogspot.com/2008/10/small-blue-king.html), with whom I had

embarked on this magical journey.

A lovely night drive brought us to Theni and then Khambam on the Tamil Nadu border, where we

got our first glimpse of nature's bounty...

The pictures I had taken early in the day say it all.

It was here that we also spotted the first set of birds, but the light was not so great as to get a good quality picture.

Having had some lovely tea, we moved up into the Western Ghats and oh boy...what a wondrous moment... totally misty and magical.

It was so ethereal, it was akin to stepping into a different place all together after the dry plains!

And as it were, it turns out that I have all the amateur beginner's luck! We in the trip ended up spotting some amazing birds and animals, which most people normally do not get to see like the grey hornbill and the nilgiri martens.

Continuing on, we finally reached our destination - Periyar (Thekkady) where we were to go deep into the forest. At this point itself, I managed to actually capture an Indian wagtail (as the nomenclature goes, the bird just keeps wagging its damn tail! all the time).

Coming across Bison/Gaur (wild buffalo), Sambar deer, elephants, boars at close quarters while trekking through the forest was an experience that I certainly do have some difficulty in

describing. Though I really wonder, why nature created leeches!

Though I must say that it was all worth it! The sheer beauty is indescribable.

And the pictures say it all :)

If you would like to see all the pictures, do visit my profiles on Facebook or Orkut.

Here's hoping that the experience doesn't stop with just this!

Sunday 13 July 2008

Tagged

This is for you: Anila. Since you have insisted outright that I do need to get tagged and it's tough to resist... given that I am doing this post after at least two weeks I must be good but not that good... I must agree resistance wears thin over a period of time ;)

So here goes...

I am : Anish. Rest of all the %#^&&*^@% I will let people who interact with me, fill in. LOL

I am not : sane?

I think : I am (borrowed from Shakespeare!)

I want : to be a bird... unlikely to be even a pilot... so will have to rely on Google earth!

I feel : I must, I suppose, else it is time to ask, can you see dead people?

I crave : Can't mention it here... too much A-rated stuff... LOL... but if I had to make a choice, it is happiness - nothing new here, who does not?

I search : for what I crave

I wonder : mostly on what could be, have been, is...

I regret : Sometimes, too much. Eventually there's no point in just looking back, and falling flat on your mug. I am learning.

I believe : In human capability

I hate : The feeling called frustration.

Here I end this tag... as doing the numbers thing is so tough... too much thinking to do... LOL

Saturday 5 July 2008

Random thoughts...

An interesting discussion I had with a friend recently, regarding thoughts rather than opinions on blogs, sparked this post off. This is a set of some thoughts... random thoughts. Agree? Disagree? or just don't care? Feel free to write whatever you feel about any of these thoughts.

I recently happened to get a forwarded video about a chap called Matt who's paid by a company to roam around the world (really, how lucky can you get???). Interesting and funny video, but what got some me a bit riled up was, what he has posted on his blog. Do visit the site http://wherethehellismatt.com and you can see his blog entries (check out Jan 2003). While there ar

e some people who feel that he writes as he sees it, some believe that he is opinionated and a racist. My thought was, what is right and wrong in the whole debate that's going on? Is it right to be politically incorrect or is it wrong to call a spade a spade? Is it wrong to defend your feelings about your country and its culture and is it right to demean others in doing so? After all are we not all different yet similar?

I happened to later drift on to a blog by a lady from Aussie land. Very interesting posts she's got about some of the Indian 'customs' and 'traditions' and how it leaves her completely baffled. Like the 'arranged marriage' concept. An ancient tradition, that many a generation of Indians believe in, and this despite all the education, exposure and experience they may have had in their lives. Come to think of it, I too am equally baffled about some of the other traditions we have e.g. leaving the footwear outside the door. When we remove the footwear, our sweaty feet (with or without socks) actually collect more dirt from outside the door and spreads it on the floor on which we step. On the other hand, wiping the shoes on the door mat before entering will in most cases ensure that we do not carry any dirt in, but that would be disrespectful as our homes are like temples. Huh?

The other day, saw a picture of one of our top political leaders feeding a cow on the road. Feeding the cow is an important tradition in our culture. What I couldn't help noticing was that the cow and the person were standing on one of the main roads of that State, right in the middle of a rubbish pile full of peels, rotting food, discarded plastic bags and what not! Does our tradition not advocate public cleanliness? Does sense not advocate cleanliness to avoid spread of disease causing bacteria and of course the stench?

Moving on to relationships. I do believe that any relation between two humans is complex, even more so when the two are from different species. While it is all well and good to read, hear, experience and see the 'he says' and 'she says' angles, who is really right and wrong? Is there a right and wrong? Why is it that the very same thing which seemed so right months ago, now seem so worthless and pitiful to have agonized about? Is it about time? I just happened to see the movie - Holiday starring the very beautiful Cameron Diaz along with talented actors like Jack Black, Kate Winslet and Jude Law. If ever an optimistic movie about the romance between individuals who are unlikely to think of it in the first place, this is it. A playboy father who actually weeps, a sexually charged up successful businesswoman who can't cry, a push over production assistant and yet another push over music director - seem like typical characters, yet the passion that is in them comes out with the right sort of place, time and situation. While this may be a movie story, I think quite often, reel life is nothing but an exaggerated reflection of real life. So does it happen in real life? Does one come across that perfect individual who sweeps all other thoughts out of your head? Why is it that quite so often, a few months or years down the line, one has to work at it? Is there a companion meant for every person on this earth? I have my doubts, but I am willing to be proved otherwise :)

Which brings me to the thought of why do relationships fail? Is it about expectations? Is it about familiarity, breeding maybe not contempt, but maybe boredom? Is it about treading an unknown path?

In my own experience, I have have gone through times, today which, when I look back in one of those crazy flashback moments, seems difficult to believe that it was even actually possible to have felt all those intense emotions at that stage for 'that' particular individual. At the cost of sounding a bit brittle and possibly not so sweet, is there really true love (for want of another phrase)? It is something I am not yet in a position to comprehend or even believe wholeheartedly. It is not that one does not want to have a companion with whom one can share one's deepest fears and hopes and more, but just that it seems increasingly a tough goal to achieve. All one has to look at is the percentage by which divorce cases have gone up - 60% and these are legal situations, not to speak about the many relationships which do not even make it to the legal stage and keep being broken!

What a life!

Friday 4 July 2008

Price of populism?

Today's the Times of India, had an interesting article called 'Fear of Flying', which goes on to talk about how the growing airline industry is struggling as a result of the high Aviation Turbine Fuel prices, which is the result of some unrealistically huge tax structures practiced in India. Do check out the link (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Editorial/Fear_of_Flying/articleshow/3194392.cms) or alternatively just click on the title of this post.

My comment to the editor was, "It is a very complex situation made by catering to populist demands more than anything else. The air-industry is a business. Waiving [Rs.] 60,000 crores to debt-ridden farmers is a political move. As are so many other examples one can think of. The point is where is the funding going to come from? The centre and states have taxes as their main means of securing funding and the ethos goes that a few will pay for all.

Hence be it the salaried segment of people or the corporate who believe in making profits through honest means, will end up paying for all of those populist promises made in the electoral battlefield. What makes it even more interesting a twist is that it is the so called non-business oriented communist dominated states of Kerala and West Bengal apart from the lone Andhra Pradesh, who have begun to understand that a positive cycle would mean lower taxes, more volumes, better absolute realisation of monies for the state treasuries. When will the other states wake up?"

The point that I was trying to make here is that despite having some of the finest intellectuals running this amazing nation at the centre, they are hardly the majority - who are actually made up of people who have being given the 'job' of running the country on the basis of the very democratic voting process that's enshrined in our constitution. Considering that, the sheer numbers, i.e. votes, is provided by a large part of the Indian population pyramid, made up of people who somehow manage to survive on a day to day basis, where is the question of the educated and supposedly intellectually aware citizen actually making a difference by voting for and electing a responsible individual who will go on to serve the best interests of the nation? Fact is that most of our 'able' political leaders, in a very fragmented power play scenario, are in post based on the votes of just a fraction of the population whom she/he represents and to whom have been made a range of populist promises from loan waivers to clothing to electronic goods?

The summer of 1948 and the summer of 2008 has some vast differences. As a nation, then we were finally free and making our own decisions. As a nation, today we are poised to grow is the term. Are we going to only remain poised?

Sunday 29 June 2008

The brain

I came across an interesting article in a newspaper.

An excerpt:
"People go through various hurtful experiences from other people such as insult, blame, violence as well as encounter certain tragic events in their lives. Such distress experiences often leave in them certain emotional scars such as anger resentment fear frustration revenge hopelessness powerlessness, etc. These negative emotions when rerun in a person’s mind many a time become more deep rooted, resulting in mental scars with debilitating influence on the person's thinking styles and emotional states. True nature is obscured or blocked. The erroneous and limiting beliefs as mentioned above coupled with emotional baggage obscures the true nature of human beings. As a result she/he becomes unable to use his thinking capabilities and other potentials to learn and develop herself/himself as well as to cope effectively with various situations in life. The individual becomes intellectually and emotionally constricted and gets stuck with certain types of negative selftalk and self defeating behaviours. They always live in the past unable to live in and enjoy the present. Psychologists say that the average person talks to him self or herself about 50000 times a day and about 80 per cent of the self talk is negative."

I do not know how true the figures mentioned above are, but some of the situations, emotions and logic mentioned are absolutely true. All of us with some sembalance of intellectual capability will have gone through such a situation (if not, lucky you!). Point is how best one can deal with such situations. Indeed the brain is a voracious instrument that nature has perfected, which allows us to do so much yet also has the capability of stopping us completely in our tracks.

Making a thought positive, ensuring it is nurtured and retained is a tough task especially when it is just so easy to become self-centred. This is food for thought, isn't it?

Cheers to life.