To somebody who didn't believe (you know who you are :) ), here is the screen shot of me on the Who wants to be a Millionaire show... :)
I know, I know, its an ugly shot, my teeth look weird in a half smile, half weirdness shot, but that is the best I could do when told to smile and wave. :)
There is a video too somewhere, but I can't seem to find it. If I find it I will post it as well, and you will see that I don't know the Italian cities correctly after all!
I read with amazement at the new world order according to the short sighted motely crew that calls itself the BCCI, short for the Board of Control for Cricket in India. This is the same Board that requires Supreme Court rulings to hold and adjudicate Board members and to decide on Television rights every time there is a series of note. This is the same Board whose elections look like the script of a bad Bollywood blockbuster. This is the same Board that doesn't still, have a media manager who can be the single source of information. This is the same Board that doesn't even have a website. And this Board wants to rule World Cricket when it runs itself in such unprofessional manner?
Where do I stop criticizing this Board which has done nothing but harm Indian Cricket, and allowed itself to fill the pockets of its office bearers. Nothing that the Board has ever done, has been for the benefit of Indian Cricket. The rationalization is given by the fact that the Indian subcontinent generates the maximum revenue, so it should be allowed to dictate the terms. Ha! Like the Indian software industry, which has prospered inspite of the Government of India, Indian Cricket revenue has been generated inspite of this Board.
With so much professed money, I wish the Board would do something for the state of Indian stadiums before taking on World Cricket and messing it up as well. I once went to a Cricket match in Mumbai, and vowed never to go back. It was a filthy stadium, with toilets that would shame a slum, a floor that was full of grease and mud, seats made our of plaster and generally, an apathetic concern for the people who pay for watching it. I wish it would appoint a media manager and a CEO. I wish it would be transparent in its financial statements. I wish..
Oh what I am wishing for,, this is the same Board that once scheduled the Indian cricket team to be in two different places at the same time, in spite of having a tours and fixtures committee.. He He. This is the same Board that wants to start its own production house for televising cricket (God forbid!). This is the same board that wants to kill the golden goose by scheduling too many games with Australia and Pakistan, forgetting that after watching the same teams playing against each other every year, it kindda of gets boring. Like repetitious sentences.
My mind boggles at the what goes inside the head of an NRI (Non-Resident Indian) parent. Sample this (taken from coverage of the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas (Overseas Indians Day)):
"I would like a girl of flawless complexion with drop-dead gorgeous looks and figure of a model, who cooks like her mother and could even earn for herself, to be my daughter-in-law".
Arrghh. Is he getting a wife for his adoring son or buying a car?
What about his son hey? Is he Adonis himself, who earns like Bill Gates, and is the epitome of the good Lord Ram. The sad fact is that if his son was any thinker and such a catch, he wouldn't be asking his parents to get him married and then setting such high standards on his parents-bought-wife. What morons.
Well, what's new this time, is that 11 of them were caught taking bribes for asking questions in the Indian Parliament. Sample some of the (ridiculous) questions that they put up (some of these were eventually tabled in the Parliament!)
"Is it true that while NRI firms such as India Uncut of USA, Sepia Mutiny of Britain and AnarCapLib of Netherlands have been allowed to invest in Indian SSIs, the reputed German investment firm Desipundit has been denied permission? If so, the reasons thereof? Is the Union Government of India planning to make automatic the long procedure of permission for SSIs to import new technologies such as Trackbacks, Pingbacks, Blogrolls, Splogs and Hitcounters?"
The NRI firms mentioned are prominent Indian blogs.
"Whether the Railway Ministry has placed any order for purchase of the Yossarian Electro Diesel engine from Germany? Is the ministry aware that the Tom Wolfe committee report in Germany has halted its induction into the Euro Rail system?"
"Whether the Government has given sanction for the seed trial of Salinger Cotton of Monsanto? If so, has a report been prepared on Catch 22 cotton so far?"
"Has the ministry lifted the 1962 ban it imposed on the book “For whom the Bell Tolls� by Ernest Hemingway and the 1975 ban on Ken Kesey’s book “One Flew Over a Cuckoo’s Nest� and Hunter Thomson’s book “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas�? If so, when were the bans removed?"
It would all be so funny if it wasn't so pathetic. What annoys me is that this is so pervasive that it doesn't surprise me anymore. And one wonders why India hasn't progressed in the last 50+ years of Independence. You know where all that development money goes. Sheesshh...
You can read the full account of the expose by one of the main journalist, Aniruddha Bahal, who has made a career out of exposes like this.
I had to ring 3 (Mobile phone operator) last night because I was annoyed by the lack of coverage in our home. As expected, the call went to Mumbai. The first operator on the other end gave me his name as Steve. Trying to be friendly, I asked him his real name. He said it was really Steve as he was a Catholic. Bemused, I continued to complain about the coverage. Since, he could not resolve the issue, he transferred me to the technical department, where I got connected to a 'Chris'. Again, wanting to be friendly, I asked him about his real name. His reply? 'Chris' was his real name. He was a Catholic too!
Ok. So this is stupid. Finally, when I had to talk to a supervisor at 3's call center in Mumbai, I was talking to an 'Aaron', again a Catholic.
Memo to Hutchinson/3: If you ever come across this blog entry, please take this seriously. Stop with this erroneous habit of declaring your religious affiliations just to continue your work. This is dangerous and unethical. Not only are you giving out wrong names, but you are also outright lying to your customers.
I know there has been a lot of bad press here in Australia about call centers. Most of it is tabloid mish mash. Most normal people realize the need for outsourcing these jobs and accept them, as long as they think they are being looked after. If you start to making reactive changes based on these tabloid reports, which come down to outright lying, you will start to turn more people against you rather than sympathize with you.
Technorati Tag: Call Centers
Came across an interesting post by Arzan Sam Wadia on what happens when Indians see other Indians on the road in a foreign country via a link from Amit Varma.
I have some experience in this area.
When I used to work in New York, I used to walk from the PATH station inside the WTC (this is before 2001) to the last office building on Wall St every weekday. The walk took me across a couple of blocks where I would get a chance to say hello to the street stalls manned by Indians. Most (All?) of them were Gujaratis and it took me a while before they acknowledged me for someone other than a person buying a newspaper or a coffee (Mind you, the coffee and hot dog vendors were mostly Spanish, at least at that time).
The vendors got friendly after a while. It just took time. It was the high end job workers who I found to be the most supercilious in their attitude. A lot of it was to do with the "What the hell is he doing here" attitude. They thought they had done well in life and it should be their domain.
The troublemakers were also the overbearing friendly Indians as they invariably turned into an Amway horror story. Sorry, but Amway is just not my cup of tea and just because I am from India doesn't mean that I will want to fall for it.
Here in Australia I see some of the same thing here. I nod and smile to most Indians. I feel like an idiot when they don't smile back or stare at me blankly. It sort of makes sense. Just because we come from the same place doesn't make us friends. But then, I nod and smile to most people like a zombie :)
I was on a trip to Melbourne the other day and I could not escape the number of Indians that were there. Most nodded and smiled. Some, especially those who were working the simple jobs (cleaners, guards), avoided eye contact. The guilt of doing a simple job, the fear of being judged? I don't know. If anything I have learned living out of India, is that no job is too small or simple. It just doesn't pay well. :)
Indian Express has an article on the current crisis (What else is new?) in Indian cricket. I agree and it doesn't apply to just Cricket, although, as I have said before and here, the Aussies need to let go off Ponting.
So the Aussie's can't let go off Ponting and India cannot let Ganguly go as captains. Hmmm.. Although, Ponting is playing much better than Ganguly (a century against Zimbabwe doesn't count) so on form Ponting has a case for inclusion in the team at least.
Over the weekend, Shellie and I saw Salaam Namaste, a Bollywood movie which has been shot entirely in Melbourne.
I was pleasantly surprised with the movie. Very rarely have I heard such “normal� dialogues in a Hindi movie. Saif Ali Khan’s interactions with his friend played by Arshad Warsi while talking about marriage and relationships were what I would say are a step away from regular Bollywood stuff.
The movie is entertaining. The topic is offbeat, but that is not the main selling point. If the movie was trying to send a 70’s style message about relationships then I guess it succeeded, but I enjoyed interactions between actors and some of the funny moments.
Javed Jaffery was funny as an Indian Crocodile Dundee. Some of the other characters were loud (the boss at the studio, the boss in the kitchen) and very stereotyped (Is every Australian girl easy and wears next to nothing?), but fine performances by Saif and Arshad. Preity was ok. Tania Zaetta as Arshad’s wife didn’t have much of a role but whatever she got she did as expected. What was with the Robin Williams inspired forgetful doctor cameo by Abhishek Bachan (it was him right?)? Very lame.
Followed a link via Amit Varma's blog entry on a Rock festival getting cancelled at the last minute due to the police commissioners dislike of Rock festivals.
Besides the fact that the reason for cancelling the show at the last minute is preposterous, I can't help but look at this list in amazement. This list is the number of places the poor organizer had to go to get the show approved in the first place. And he had all the permissions except the last two. And after all that, it got cancelled at the last minute because it was not the right kind of music. Wow!
Excellent, Excellent article on the recent Mumbai floods. That is perhaps the only way to improve the situation.
Read this piece in Outlook India. Sigh! Lived through it and know the feeling. But for us now, the pressure is to "start a family".
Amit Verma has blogged about Thomas Friedman's love affair with Bangalore.
I could not agree more.
I never thought that one day I will see an almost mainstream Bollywood movie in a normal cinema full of non-Indian audience.
It was very funny and very enjoyable.
Bride and Prejudice works because of its stereotypes and caricatures. Please don't expect to see a faithful Jane Austen reproduction, on whose work it is based. It's a mix of over the top Bollywood melodrama and Hollywood expectations.
Aishwarya Rai, the ex-Miss World, is a disappointment in the acting department. She is very pretty, but looks very plastic. Her romantic scenes with Martin Henderson are very contrived and painful to watch. In comparison, her sisters in the movie, especially, Namrata Shriodkar, come out loooking better.
I cringed at the sight of gospel singers, lifesavers and surfers singing to the tune of Bollywood. Some of the songs were very chessy because they were sung in English and they just didn't seem right.
The scenes in Amritsar are the best, especially the ones involving Mr. Kohli and Mrs. Bakshi. The Cobra dance was hillarious.
Good fun.
After looking at some of the photographs of Aishwarya Rai doing the rounds of New York, Cannes and London, I am sure of one thing.
The beautiful ex-Miss World needs a stylist.
She looks garish, uncomfortable and a doe caught in headlights. This is her in London, in Cannes and now in New York, in what can only be described as a throwaway dress made out of 80s style puffy shirt (in Gold!!!!).
I hope she does well (and I will be going to see her in Bride and Prejudice), but if her aim is to break into the American market, she needs a better publicist and stylist than the ones that she may have now.
Amit Verma (who is also the writer of a cricket blog on cricket.org) has written an excellent analysis of why he thinks India is considered a one-sport syndrome.
All these years, I had no idea why I was rooting for Dravid to be dismissed. Or maybe, I have just lost interest in cricket overall. I am excited by Twenty-20 cricket though. Maybe it's the fast-food version of cricket that I crave for my fast-food life.
More than 20 years on, and they are still deciding who is to blame for the riots that engulfed India in 1984. If they can't decide who is to blame, how will they ever punish them? Isn't punishment supposed to act as a deterent?
As Hewitt says after hitting a cross court backhand in to the net, in utter frustation, "C' mmmmm ooo nnnn".
Yesterday was 26th January, the day that is of significance to both India and Australia.
On 26th January 1950, India's constitution was formally adopted and India became a republic.
On 26th January 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip officially claimed the eastern seaboard of Australia as a British Colony.
Different eras, yet still a a shared sense of history. One was become free of British rule, one was accepting British rule. How ironic!
It's a sad state of affairs in Bihar (a lawless state in India). Outlook India reports on the plight of doctors and patients here.
You know things are bad when a doctor treats a child patient with three security guards around him. This is not a war torn region where the doctors have to work under enemy gunfire, but for all intents and purposes, it may as well be.
And to think I spent 4 years in this state doing my engineering.
Update on 25-01-2005
And it gets worse...
The entire Indian blogging world is quite worked up over a guy who has plagiarized contents from their own blogs. They are trying to take collective action against the guy but so far it seems that he is going to ignore them. Here is a link where you can read more about it.
Why does it happen? Why does it seem so easy for people to take credit for work that is not theirs? I think I know the answer. Because they think that they can get away with it.
What exactly can the blogger community, even collectively, do to this guy? Can they take legal action? Hardly. Bad mouth him in their own blogs and hope that he takes his blog down (or write original content)? Hardly.
I am not trying to belittle their efforts. However, I think that collective action will not achieve much against a guy who was shameless enough to do so in the first instance. Here are my thoughts on how to make this guy stop.
The first thing to do is to find out who hosts his site. (PHPWEBHOSTING.com, from Whois records.)
Email this hosting company and complain. Most hosting companies have terms related to copyrighted content and will take some sort of action.
Next, find out what software he uses for blogging. Even though this may not be useful, by complaining to company that makes this software will increase the pressure on him. (www.blogger.com/Google)
Finally, find out where he works and complain to his organization. How does complaining to his boss help? It doesn't directly, but fear of discovery by colleagues can do wonders.
Just some of the suggestions. I have dealt with plagiarism of my technical content (always, I am afraid to say, by an Indian) and luckily, in all cases, the matter was brought to a satisfactory conclusion, because of threat of discovery and legal action.
For the past few weeks, I have been reading this book called "Holy Cow!" by Sarah Macdonald on her travel through India. What are the words that come to mind when reading such a book? Entertaining, funny, frustating, annoying, superficial, commercial. It has got everything that a foreign traveller to India would expect. Getting disgusted by the filth, exhilarated by the human conundrum and then if they stay long enough, going on a predictable and endless journey to "find" themselves. *sigh*. Is there ever a different experience for a foreigner in India?
The book is honest and yes, very funny at times. Some of the experiences hit close to home (my wife, like the author of the book, is an Australian). Some of the remarks are forcefully degrading to drive home a point and it gets annoying. How many times do we have to hear that New Delhi is heavily polluted and filthy?
But all in all, I like the book for it is candidness. That is refreshing. The author makes no assumptions, presents her feelings in a straightforward manner and admits when she is wrong and confused. I hope she gets rid of her confusion by the end of the book, because I know, even though I was born and brought up in India, I am still confused about a lot of things Indian.
Sania Mirza, from India, wins her first round match at the Australian Open 2005 and the Times Of India makes her a Grand Slam Winner already.
Talk about low expectations. The poor girl might as well pack her bags and leave now, for as per TOI she has already made history.
Thank God I am not the only one who thinks the same. Amit Varma at his blog chimes in with this.