Monday, August 31, 2009

How did I celebrate onam this year?

I am lucky to be born as a Malayalee. Every Malayalee is infact lucky. Malayalee across the globe celebrates Onam, the proud product of Kerala history. It is the mother of all festivals in Kerala. Kerala is geographically located in the southern frontier of great India, typically well known for its majestic beauty, incredible backwaters, flamboyant festivals, coconuts, politics, exotic beaches, exquisite cuisines, sterling arts and unfolding history. In short, Kerala is coined as “God’s own country”.

During Onam, people welcome the most powerful, potential, prudent king of all times in Kerala,Mahabali from hell, which was brilliantly engineered by Vamana, a form of Lord Vishnu. On this auspicious occasion, schools, colleges, offices are closed, relatives gather, festivals in temples, shopping spree and variety of activities which has to be experienced with naked eyes. No festival in the world has this classified uniqueness and amity, Muslims, Christian’s joins along with Hindus; communists, congress and other numerous political parties join hands, hundreds of dishes, rare gathering and composition of foreigners from across globe and many, leaves onam a unique mystery.

This year, 2009 was welcomed by the usual suspect and thriller of every Onam, the rain. It is a phenomenon proffered by nature, which leaves unforgettable experience to every Malayalee for eons. This showering is celebrated by floras and faunas. They dance, sing and shares this magical moments with fellow credo. I watched this spectacular hobnob through the window with feeling a tad lazy. Ironically, the whole country experienced 20% less rain than normal rain fall, result of global climatic changes.

I came home this time to achieve certain expected and predefined tasks and action items. Amma, papa and I are the participants of this onam. Vals, my eldest brother cannot make it this time and unavailability of Giri, my second brother has become a tradition, as he is repeating history. I have to push both Amma and papa for consulting with a famous orthopaedist. Amma has difficulty walking; her right knee has protruding and cannot keep her feet on the ground for a while. Papa’s battle with varicose veins continues and he is undergoing an ayurveda medication for last 4-5 months.

My ambitious tasks started with organizing and cleaning the principal room, followed by rest of the bedrooms, dining and toilets. Gathered all the newspapers both English and Malayalam to be sold out, went to the estates (plots) with Asokan, who usually does the business of plunging the coconut from the coconut tree; collated and set fire to the dried leaves; washed both cars; captured some flowers and insects in D60; bought provisions, vegetables and fruits; and the unwinding list goes.

Another onam passes by, and I am the same old anxious spectator. But I am lucky and proud to be a Malayalee.



Sunday, August 23, 2009

Word movies this week [UTV]

This week I got the novel opportunity to watch handful of historic movies based on true events in UTV channel, exposing a rare blend of realities and persona. Here are the synopsis of few.

Buenos Aires, 1977

Buenos Aires 1977 is a Spanish movie about four young men among many other, who are kidnapped by Argentinean secret military agents and were exposed to brusque torture, spasm, questioning and captivity for nearly four months. They narrowly escape death and were rewarded with freedom at the end. The movie was based on the testimony from the 2 surviving victims. The movie exposed the true nature of the military regime during 1977 and following years. Argentina was under nasty, brutal and fatal military rule for a while, which led many nationals to find refugee in neighbouring countries and some fled to Europe. Civil war continued to pull down the military rule, and who ever involved in leftist organizations were kidnapped, exiled and murdered.

To End All Wars

An adaptation from the autobiography of Ernest Gordon, sharing the world the events occurred during World War II. Captured by the Japanese forces, the captives are moved to concentration camp in the epicentre of the jungle highly guarded by armed Japanese forces. The captives undergoes heavy torture, brutal beatings, diseases like malaria, no food, . The motive was to build the majestic Burma Railroad in a short period of 18 months. Ernest Gordon inspired by his fellow mates and fulfilling his dream, formed a support group and exchanged knowledge which resulted in the formation of “Jungle University”. He was almost killed by a deadly virus, but survived. His extensive knowledge in philosophy, history and English boasted the fellow mates. He took paramount effort to educate and inspire his fellow mates who have deserted their hopes and faiths. Attacked by the allied forces, the Japanese troop abandons the labour camp and finds in the jungle. Gordon builds a mounting friendship with liberal, kind English speaking Japanese major.

In 1990, both met in the memorial tomb in Thailand and prayed for those died in the labour camp. Gordon joined the Princeton University after returning from war and he was dean for 26 years. The Japanese major become a Buddhist monk in Thailand.

The counterfeiters

The German movie released in 2007, portraying legendary Jewish counterfeiter Salomon Sorowitch, nicknamed “sally”. He was captured by the Nazi and was send to concentration camp at Sachsenhausen during World War II. Delighted by his skills, the Nazi generals introduce him into operation Bernhard, a clandestine effort to crunch and flood the British economy with forged currency printed at the camp. He teams up with a group of Jews estranged from families who are experts in different kinds of paper forgeries, heavily guarded and under the radar of “Hail Hitler” soldiers. No other alternative to life and closed doors of escape from the camp, he successfully develops prototypes of banks note and floods Britain market. To safeguard the fellow Jews he was threatened to develop American dollar negatives. The allied forces attack the camp and the German forces abandon the camp.

The movie won the best foreign language Oscar at 80th Academy awards in 2008. The movie exposed the brutality of the Nazi forces against the Jews in the concentration camps. Operation Bernhard remains as the one of the biggest forgeries in the history. It produced about three times the British reserve bank.

Lucky Miles

Lucky Miles is an Australian feature film released in 2007, a conspicuous exhibition of continents vast geography and illegal emigration. A bunch of illegal immigrant’s lands somewhere in the vast coastal region and head’s towards Perth, a major port city. Groups are split and wander through the terrain and are lost. Some are caught by the guards and those who escaped experiences horrifying heat and terrain covered with desert sand, gravels and family of cactus.

The film unfolds the illegal migration which is widespread and hostile conditions of those immigrants. The government of Australia has taken proactive measures to stop illegal immigration. It is a warning to those who ............

Welcome to existence, welcome to Pico do Jaraguá

Pico do Jaraguá, highest mountain range in Sao Paulo state, with an untold history it sits 1135 metres above sea level, is labelled as World heritage site by UNESCO.

Here is my escape to haven with my family to Pico do Jaraguá.

My group, in descending order, Dani, Julio, Bruno, Daise, Victor. We started after the lunch from family house in Espirito Santo do Pinhal in car, which was infact in a bad state. We stored our arsenal of food which included variety of fruits, ripe and sour, and drinking water. Six of us then squeezed inside the car, Julio was the transporter and he exhibited his driving skills, which almost took my breath away. Notwithstanding the horrible damaged road conditions, like Schumacher Julio geared up, blew off the dried leaves from road, showered the tree trunks with the streams of water flowing through the road and bombastic noises produced by the car in frequent intervals. Squeezed in the back I did a 180 degree rotation of my head to have a glance, but I could see only the dust and smoke emanated by the car.


After the voilent turbulence, we finally reached the top of the Pico do Jaraguá. With a tingling bliss, tranquillity at the end I stood on the grass, hands wide open like Jack in the Titanic, took a deep breath and enjoyed the mind blowing panoramic scene, silent for a while. Serene, sky exposed variants of blue color, mountains hid under the flamboyant clouds, colours in equilibrium and beautifully disciplined plantations, vast farmlands. The air was so fresh. I was lost and found.

It was said that we can view about 20 cities from the top, cities and building blocks like small bricks placed on the ground. We jumped, clicked, posed, laughed, sang, played football, visualized our dream coming true and it was complete and composed.

The trip left me with enduring and captivating memories and opened the corridors of ecstasy, a meaning of life, happiness and love. I was like a child, lost weight and age, with innocence, emptiness and bliss.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Humans are sharper when blind

A village in early 40’s or 50’s in Japan which was haunted by gang wars, killings, heavy taxes and left freedom and security at stake. Fight between the two lousy gangs increased and deceased many of the followers and innocents. A highly skilled ronin enters the village and offers his service to one of the gang leader as a bodyguard. Meantime a visually challenged elderly samurai, Zatōichi also finds a place in the same village as a masseur. A geisha siblings joins the party as well seeking revenge to slain the murderers of their parents. Both the ronin and masseur did magic, wonders and consummate skills with their swords. They moved faster than light, they cut slice the enemies in a flash, their swords smelled blood, their swords spoke, invincible to be defeated and for masseur darkness was his medium of execution. Masseur says when a human is blind, he is sharper, and with the instincts of senses he attains deeper concentration, accuracy and clarity.

The masseur enters the gang courtyard and saves the geisha siblings and executes a blasphemy, makes a beeline to the ronin who was expecting him. He kills the ronin and leaves himself injured. In his court of darkness (justice), he is the god and destroyer. Shortly after the deadly massacre he kills the actual gang lord who has hidden his identity from the society and worked as helper in “sake” (Japanese drink) cafe, who was the actual mastermind behind the geisha sibling’s parent’s murder. He finally opens up his eyes and tells the slain boss that he recognized him at the first sight in the cafe. He then traipses and falls. He says “We fall, even if we open our eyes and walk”.

The movie is a composition of Takeshito Kitano’s directorial connoisseur, ecstasy, elegance and delicacy. No wonder why Quentin Tarantino was influenced by Kitano. He played the incredible role of Zatōichi in the movie which received unprecedented applause. In the movie he fudged the blood flushing out in the killing sequences with incredible graphic splendour. Since the release of the movie in 2003, it has been accepted widely in abroad.

For decades he has been a critical player in the Japanese film industry. He felt his presence in the industry as a director, actor, film editor, screenwriter, poet and painter. His movies are classic with extreme indulgence to silence, edgy dialogues, idiosyncratic themes and radiant action sequences. He uses the state of the art technology to push his movies. His creations have gifted the world of movies with character and silent charisma.

Good work Kitano, We honour you!!!!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

mother of all "Panic"

I reached 11:20 AM at GRU airport in Sao Paulo 10 minutes earlier to the scheduled arrival time. I got the immigration cleared, collected the baggage and made a beeline to the restroom to get refreshed and applied some cosmetics. It was my first much awaited travel to Brazil in an endeavour to meet my girlfriend’s family and people. I marched out of the international arrival terminal; my supple eyes started scanning for my girlfriend who was supposed to receive me at the arrival gate. I stood at the gate for a while with an incessantly beating heart. With butterflies in my stomach my eyes undauntedly spearheaded in scanning and got married to a monk’s patience. Patience finally turned to ignorance and negligence....

I slowly traipsed and schlepped the heavy baggage out of the gate, like in the movie “Terminal” starring Tom Hanks I wandered around the huge four storied airport with ceaseless hope. Panting heavily I run back to the arrival gate again and redo the scanning. Hours passed and I was deeply immersed into frustration, censure, anger, languished and corrupted. There comes the uninvited guest of the century, Mr Panic. My mind was boggled with myriads of unimaginable negative thoughts. “Am I being cheated?”, “Did she fool me”. I was completely mugged by panic at point blank; I struggled interacting with my limited arsenal of Portuguese words and came up with no definite solution. I don’t know what will be my next move. Should I take a flight back to home? I lost hope......

I roamed through the blocks and finally was able to find a telephone centre. Luckily the lady in the centre spoke broken English. She made a call to my girlfriend’s mobile, which gave weird responses like “this telephone number is invalid”. Adding to my delirium, panic and frustration I made another call to her home. Her mother picked up and gave a positive message that “Dani left home in the early morning to the airport”. My panic started to subside and I felt guilty, relaxed and energetic.

Like the song “Brighter than sunshine” by the Aqualung my girlfriend finally appeared in front of me (after 1 and half hours), she made a beeline and swooped on me, gave the tightest hug of the century and a kiss of wisdom, courage, confidence and divinity. Due to some technical glitches, the display in the airport showed a wrong arrival gate and caused the panic.

The root cause of this panic is Mind and thoughts. My mind was clouded with negative thoughts; I should have patiently waited and communicated properly with the airport officials and could have avoided this nasty panic. Thoughts neither have shape nor have forms, thoughts doesn’t exist, it is the invention of mankind. Refrain from thoughts, thereby opening the doors of bliss and enlightenment. Let the mind be the host and thoughts be the guests, never let the thoughts to be the host......

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Climbing a level higher

Promotion has become a culture, a “promo” culture, where each aspiring candidates muscles to impress and showcase the management. Those who execute the game plan with due diligence and confidence will be rewarded. Those who are denied with promotion will be devastated and makes imminent decisions (like quitting the organisation, acting rebel, antagonizing the management etc). Organizations apply strategies while promoting a person to next level, promotions is just a mere designation whereas monetary benefits are minimal in most cases with increased responsibilities. In IT (or any field), promotion plays a key role in organizing the community (hierarchy) of people associated with this industry.

Let’s invest some time exploring about the certain aspects/elements of promotion in IT culture.

Impediments in promotion:

- “Expectations not met”, a highly fabricated terminology. A person who is “inefficient”, degrading performance, recurring issues etc falls under this category. (Based on facts).

- Feud or spats with supervisors or managers, engaging in logomachy on petty things, undermines the fact that the resource is highly productive.

- Neither visible nor interactive to the team. Lacking energy.

- Flaks or issues with client team.

- Raise demands like “promotion”, “onshore”, “roll off” etc,

- Browbeating the peers with resignation or other plausible causes.

- Not adhering to company policies like violation of security, sharing confidential information’s etc

- Not participating in activities outside the team like cultural events, outings etc.

Ingredients for promotion:

- “Flattery”, “buttering”, kneel down on knees..Etc. a major guideline for the promotion.

- “Exceeded expectation”, a person who has proved highly efficient, conducive, smarter and proactive.

- A good mentor, invigorating the team with new ideas and learning’s.

- Talk a lot, followed by a gush of flattery.

- Give a blind naked smile or nod for all the blunders popping out of the peers.

- Never say “NO” to peers.

- Never ask “Roll off”.

- Lenience to opposite sex, especially women candidates have higher advantage.

- Involve and participate in activities outside team.

Let’s contemplate the impacts/symptoms before and after in a promo culture.

Before:

- Commute in local BMTC (Karnataka) bus.

- Fag Gold flake or booze old monk (pertaining to any local brands).

- Schmooze with those who are being denied from promotion for a long time.

- Hide from people who are already promoted belonging to same group.

- Disturbed, disappointed, disillusioned, dejected. Clouded with anger and hopes vanished.

- Work really hard but without interest or spirit, with increased delirium.

- Keep away from beloveds, friends and family.

After:

- Commute in expensive hi-tech Volvo bus.

- Fag Dunhill or booze Jack Daniels (pertaining to standard brands).

- Interact with high end folks, peers or same genre.

- Usage of highly concise IT verbiage. Talk out of the box and work less

- Expertise in delegating tasks to team.

- Excel in excel sheets.

- Effluence in synergy, multi-tasking and thirst for activities

- Hanging out with friends and family, frequent travels.

The purpose of promotion is being defeated these days, the deserved are denied and management is corrupted. Promo culture is highly complicated, but it’s not a rocket science to embrace. It’s a reality, face it and prove it. But when we become a peer, make sure to reward those who deserves unbiased. Learn and acknowledge mistakes. Appreciate the team and encourage the team, be a part in ups and downs of the team. Be a good Team player.

Well, I am a casualty of “promo” phobia!!!

The shadows of Che Quevara


Recently I bought a color poster of Che Guevara, photographed by Alberto Korda which was declared as "The most famous photograph in the world". I hanged this majestic poster in my living room, which gives a perpetual visibility and proximity. Looking at this poster, reminisces my ardent devotion towards this great hero.

My association with Che Guevara began when I was pursuing for graduation in University college of Engineering. For me in the beginning, he was just an Argentinean paramilitary or guerrilla leader, Marxist revolutionary, physician who organized coups/revolts against imperialism and capitalism. He has engineered many revolutions in Cuba, Bolivia and failed coup attempt in Congo. He travelled across the Latin American countries learning, experiencing and contemplating the basking of colonialism and imperialism which resulted in his most inspiring "The motorcycle diaries" (a collection of his journals, travelogue). Time magazine named him as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.

I became obsessed and absorbed the contents of his ideologies and tried to implement or execute those during my sting in the University. But certainly realized that those are evolved out of the necessities and a democratic country like India is not the playground. A renaissance of communism and Marxism embarked with the evolution of Che, but his iconic charisma and essence of his ideologies has been hugely exploited in the last few decades by organizations and detractors. His image has been depleted/tampered by unwontedly walling his posters in the nooks and corners. His trademark olive green military dress has become the favourites of fashion designers.

I was called Che Poojari dating back my college days. I was engulfed with his theories filled with communism and Marxism. I painted a huge banner of Che which has been walled in many locations and numerous occasions in our university. Recently my mother found out a huge arsenal of posters, banners, flags, articles...etc from my wardrobe. It was amazing that I was able to cover up my leftist ideologies and baggage full of organizational apparatus from my parents. I am delighted that i was able to preserve those.

The shadows of Che will stay alive inside me!!!

Saturday, August 1, 2009

The idea of happiness

I recently got the rarest of rare opportunity to watch the movie “into the wild” released in 2007 directed by Sean Penn. The film portrays the true orgy for adventures of Christopher McCandles whose ultimate divine quest was to experience the wildest of wild Alaska. He felts society was mediocre and is the handiwork of exploiters. He christened himself as Alexander and constructively destroys his existence by burning his credit cards and dossiers representing his identity. Alex premeditates and sets a journey to Alaska after completing the graduation, donating his savings to charity, leaving his parents, sister and friends, desperate and worried.

Alexi says “True happiness is to be found in sharing”. He emphasizes that happiness can be derived by sharing with flora, fauna or animals than the principles of human relationship. He reinforces, educates that happiness can be fostered by experiencing new things in life. His idea for happiness is unimaginable, inspiring and enduring. Some of his ideas are quoted below:

The core of mans' spirit comes from new experiences

“When you want something in life, you just gotta reach out and grab it.

“You don't need human relationships to be happy, God has placed it all around us

“If we admit that human life can be ruled by reason, then all possibility of life is destroyed

“Some people feel like they don't deserve love. They walk away quietly into empty spaces, trying to close the gaps of the past

In his enigmatic journey to Alaska he encounters, experiences versatility of nature, humans, and garners relationships. He was mesmerized and fascinated by the extreme wilderness of Alaska, the blue skies, mountains, streams, plethora of lush green trees, legions of animals. Later in the movie Alexi decides to reconcile with his family and society. However, he was trapped in the extreme conditions of the wild nature and realises that nature has another face “wild”. He ran out of food stocks and consumes a wild leaves assuming it to be edible; unfortunately he was poisoned, falls vegetative and eventually fells sick.

Finally after vigorous struggle with the dire conditions Alex says “sayonara” to the world. It was spasm, saddening and nerve wrecking. Throughout the movie an unflinching, continuous and profound message (learning) about pursuit to happiness and freedom was conveyed. A selective message about parenting has also been quoted in the movie, as his parent’s hostile behaviour has led him to derive his “idea of happiness”.

His objectives, idea of escaping the worldly pleasure and running away personal responsibility invites closer censure, condemnable and disappointment. He might have achieved his destiny, but has he fulfilled his true responsibility.

As we tramp our life is bound with myriad of events, but filling your heart with happiness is highly important. Happiness can be derived from many sources and it is everywhere. With love, embracing happiness is eventually easier and simpler.