It’s the driest, flattest, hottest, most infertile and climatically aggressive of all the inhabited continents and still
There are various humorous quotes and interesting titbits about the country and its history. I am almost through the book and would re-post the most catchy lines, info and phrases soon.
This is my 108th blog post.
And it is a good number with lots of cultural references attached to it. It is considered sacred in many eastern religions, Sikhish, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Shintoism, Taoism .
According to ayurveda there are 108 pressure points in the body.
In
There are 108 beads in a rosary.
There are 108 upanishads (ancient Indian sacred texts of wisdom)
There are 108 feelings – 36 each related to past, present and future
There are 12 constellations and 9 arc segments 12x 9 is 108
It is believed that a person must overcome the 108 earthly temptations to achieve nirvana
The atomic weight of silver is 108.
The first manned space flight lasted 108 minutes, on April 12, 1961 Yuri Gagarin, Russian Cosmonaut
It had a recurring appearance in Lost with the 4 8 15 16 23 42 totaling 108 and as the integral part of the Valenzetti Equation
It is the toll free emergency number in
The highest broadcast band of FM radio is 108 .
An official major league baseball has 108 stitches
There are 108 cards in the UNO game (I love that game)
The spherical angle between
The exterior angles between the points of a pentagram and the interior angles of a pentagon are 108 degrees. In Homer’s ‘The Odyssey’ Odysseus is forced to fight off 108 suitors when he returns to his wife Penelope.
The Emmy has ended and the fall TV season has began. It is a good time for sitcomers as the weekly dose of humour is assured. That’s the best thing about sitcoms – they are addictive and generally give the viewers a good time. Also, shows can pick up from a momentary dip in form in a season and start afresh. You see all sitcoms are not Seinfeld or Cheers. This season, some shows might jump the shark and others might consolidate their storylines, jokes and Emmy winning status. A look at some shows premiering new seasons this fall
The Office
Dunder Mifflin without Michael Scott ? Now how is that going to pan out ? Last heard James Spader as Robert California is a small term replacement as the boss ..more changes in store here. Starts Sept.22 on NBC
The Big Bang Theory I am not that excited about this one. Bazinga !!Can’t wait for the season premiere. Big Bang moves to Thursday and this season has definite potential. Nerd ! Starts Sept.22 on CBS
How I Met Your Mother Personally,it has lost the zing of the first couple of seasons, and I have not caught the last 2 seasons entirely.But it remains popular enough.Although seriously , how long are those kids going to be stuck up in the sofa ? 2030? Get a move on Ted.Starts Sept 19 on CBS.
Two and a Half Men Ashton Kutcher replaces Charlie Sheen.Peek in to see what difference does it makes after all? Starts Sept.22 on CBS
New Girl Zooey Deschanel joins sis Emily on the Fox network. Zooey moving in with 3 guys and trying to figure out things and love life is an interesting premise for a new show. Will at least half a dozen episodes before having an opinion about this. But will watch Zooey. Starts Sept 20 on Fox.
Parks and Recreation Another mockumentary set-up and part of NBC’s Thursday comic line up returns for season 4.Solid performers in this one from Amy Poehler to Rashida Jones to Aziz Ansari.Starts Sept 22 on NBC
Modern Family Best Comedy Emmy winner .Seaon 3 lies ahead for the Pritchett family.Dysfunctional? Sort of.Charming ? You bet .Must watch.Starts Sept 21 on ABC
Earlier this week, we had to pick up an interior designer from the European wing of the consultancy and so I went with our company driver to pick him up late night at the
Anyway I thought lets go as next week we are boarding flights from here itself for the much vaunted break needed from the summer that is hitting 48°C by 10 in the morning .We went after our naan and houmos dinner washed down by a 7-Up and a little bit more drinks in the car dashboard for the journey .I had picked up a book just in case it gets late and the flights are delayed.
The long desolate airport road stretch
We reached by 10 and went in and started the wait from the floor 1 aisle waiting area aisle. We kept looking at the ticker screen for arrivals and it was not flashing our flight number yet .We hanged around a bit , went to the airline office just to confirm and it was delayed from 11.30 to 1.30 am. Fantastic ! We had to wait, so we also contemplated a quick bite, but after going through the counters of the immaculately neat and terribly overpriced outlets of McDonalds and Baskin Robbins, we decided, its better to keep our Dirhams in our wallet and walk away. There was so much time to kill now and once you are at the airport you can not sleep. So after a few desultory trips to the duty free shop and chatting up with the money exchange lady at Travelex, we did people watching from the first floor. The airport had a judicious race mix - Arabs, Asians, Filipinos, Europeans and Africans from all over the places – Karachi, Kiev, Manila, Jeddah, Calicut and Nairobi. You may surmise that Sharjah is a hub that connects the smaller cities around the world. But incidentally, the Sharjah airport is a major cargo hub and is the second biggest in the region.
After a while of roaming around, i told Shereef (who I call Sheriff) – the ever smiling, goggles wielding, pot bellied driver and my company for the night ‘Lets go to the van and get those drinks in the dashboard’. I also wanted to get hold of my Bill Bryson book – Down Under which I got from a second hand book stall when I came here last time and had boarded one my favourite bus fleets – see the pic below.
It was only 11.30, but as soon as went past those sliding doors, into the actual weather, i felt a slap on the face from the humid and hot night breeze. It was like a punch made of hot microwave air. Added to that it’s sticky, sandy, hot and a couple of minutes walk is an ordeal the body doesn’t want to take. Shereef was his cool self and giggling at the misery. And once we got there I got those Pringles too. I cranked up the car A/C for some respite.
September 11, 2001. You likely remember where you were, what were you doing. How you watched those twin towers fall to ground and reduced to rubble of concrete and steel.
I was in ONGC Baroda, participating in a regional U-16 football camp and saw the images on a television set up in the mess as me and my school mates sat down for dinner. We went home a day later and the media was still covering the most audacious attack on American soil till date. And by then the term 9/11 had not even been coined. That was a term that came later on to tag along with the vague, intangible but decade spawning ‘war on terror’. Before that countries went to war on countries. There was an aggressor and a defender, a venue and a warfield. The 'war on terror' was more approximation, guestimation, red herrings and failed leads that frustrated the allies to no end. 9/11 changed the world’s external affairs. It is a day that still haunts many. With consequences that we still live with .
The 9/11 hijackers demonstrated that the terrorist game plan had changed. And now all of a sudden, they were willing to die on a mission. Since then the allies have gone to war to Afghanistan and Iraq, tracked down and killed Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. While going after Al Qaida and Laden was an immediate priority, the invasion of Iraq was done on the back of an incoherent strategic plan and in search of WMD’s that were never there as shown in Paul Greengrass’ Greenzone. People, even American citizens saw it as the US foreign policy to drill holes in other countries and suck the oil out . And after a decade and wars costing 3 trillion dollars, America will pull out of Afghanistan and withdraw its troops.
More than the immediate impact , the damage to America has been more layered with it fighting wars with money from credit, it went from bad to worse as the housing bubble bust, followed by the fall of investment banks and an economy that got itself down-graded .Even Osama bin Laden would not have dreamed of this kind of impact . As for Barack Obama who won on agenda of change, the capture of Laden also wouldn’t do him much good .With plummeting ratings, sick economy, an eminent second dip in recession, unemployment and policies that have failed to work as he might have expected, it might not be surprising if he doesn’t stand for a second term and George Bush might be every tempted to ask him the next time around…
‘It isn’t that easy to fix things, is it?’
The most famous graffiti artist for the past few years has been the hooded and mysterious man from Bristol - Banksy, who made the Oscar nominated documentary ‘Exit through the gift shop’ and .Find my previous article on Banksy here.
Lately, Banksy has been involved in a battle on streets with another terrific and revered graffiti artist Robbo who was forced out of his self imposed retirement when Banksy allegedly went after one of his iconic graffiti at the Regents Canal in Camden, London.The graffiti has been there since 1985.Since then, there has been a no holds barred punch and counter punch, tit for tat, curse for ridicule exchanges between these two artists and their supporters.
Robbo, is a well respected artist among street artists and literally a giant at 6’8”.Now in the graffiti scenario, where London authorities are actively erasing new works Robbo’s work had stood the test of time .This was until Banksy decided to do a piece over it.
The original wall graffiti by Robbo done in 1985 below.
Now granted that it was losing the sheen but Banksy went over a ‘landmark’ piece and without the permission of the original artist, which is a complete no no according to graffiti ethos. Banksy’s attempt can be looked in two ways – first, a complete affront of street ethics and insult towards Robbo’s work as he paints over his work to create his own work. Also it can be seen as a retaliation from Banksy towards Robbo quoting for a book that how he slapped Banksy at ' Dragon Bar' for not acknowledging him when they met.
Or secondly, as Banksy supporters put it, Robbo’s was a terribly worn down graffiti and that by actually incorporating it into his piece he has paid a tribute to the original piece.If you notice, the original Robbo graffiti is made to look like a wallpaper that the man that Banksy painted is applying with glue brush onto the wall.Nonetheless, this slight to his iconic piece of art forced Robbo to retaliate.
He used the man painted by Banksy and his finished piece had him painting the wall instead of pasting a wallpaper with his name 'King Robbo'
Next came Banksy’s reply, which was under the belt.
Robbo painted over ‘FUC’
Banksy painted the wall black over it
Robbo painted over it with Topcat standing next to Banksy’s career tombstone
Banksy painted his 'freedom chair graffiti' over the wall using his trademark stencil work. The exact timelines can be found here on London graffiti site. Soon supporters of Robbo who go the name ‘Team Robbo’ went after several Banksy pieces.Like the Global warming piece and the fishing boy.
The village idiot to retaliate the boy fishing a gloopy Banksy tag.
They also used the rat which made Banksy famous and attacked his style .
Robbo's 'Banksy la rat' piece here implying that his rat work is copied from French artist Blek de Rat (Xavier Prou) who was the pioneering stencil graffiti artist in 1980s .Robbo also questioned the artistic integrity and that he is no graffiti artist as he cheats by using stencils instead of freehand graffiti that Robbo is a genius at.
It is an ongoing battle that is stalled at the moment because Robbo is in a coma and recuperating. Robbo can also be counter criticized to be aiming for Banksy as it gives him attention immediately. It makes for one great story captured in a recent documentary .Do check it out here ..
It has been quite an eventful months in Indian politics. And after being subjected to all the weird quotes and developments, I do have some queries. Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement notwithstanding, I have certain other questions
Any intelligence on the next terrorist attack on Mumbai? And this is just an observation from The Week That Wasn’t on IBN . Sushma Swaraj has more expressions in a single speech than half a dozen hindi film actresses put together. I respect that. Honest. ♪♫
The English Premier League (EPL) since its re-invention and re-branding in 1992 has become the richest, most watched and successful league in the world. It has entered previously untapped markets by marketing itself successfully. Asia in particular, has become a huge fan zone and hence a revenue stream for the league. There is economic, sociological and marketing logic behind the English Premier League’s popularity in India. English Premier League’s reach that has expanded with every passing year in a cricket crazy nation. Factors like economics, marketing, socio-economic, globalisation, commercialising celebrity etc. have played a part in popularity of football and especially English Premier League.
Furthermore, tellingly and discerningly there is a differentiating factor for the youth who follow it. It gives them identity in being associated with a football club and being an ardent supporter when they don’t have an opportunity to support their nation in marquee international football events. The coverage of EPL gave the Indian audience an experience previously unknown, and the coverage has continued with its novelty factor by using media, marketing and advertising. Meanwhile the big clubs of the league have branded themselves so as to get into the mind-space of people in South-Asia.
In case of football, India is a world-class spectator nation. The journey of football spectatorshiphas evolved from a colonial legacy to the present state of consumerist branded commodity of today. We reside in the new media age where sports and media can’t live without each other. A sport needs new markets and so does the media. The television and globalisation factor has created millions of EPL fans who are a sub-set among sporting enthusiasts. India comes with its peculiarities, yet EPL enjoys moderate amount of fan-base in a country where sports other than cricket hardly have a foothold.
A Fringe Nation
India has been a fringe nation on world stage if we consider participation; however India does have a huge following from a viewership perspective. When one refers about football in India, its spread with respect to the national team and young kids taking up the game, India is termed quite justifiably as a ‘sleeping giant’. The term has been used with varying degrees of justification for many other countries, especially to those in Africa, where the giant has woken and has startled others in doing so. In China, to take another example, the giant appears to be awake but is seemingly incapable of getting out of the bed.
In modern India, no hyperbole is sufficient enough to capture the importance of cricket in the country’s national life. India, the second most populous nation in the world has a rather insignificant presence in the world of sports with cricket being it’s only shot at world domination.
The fascination for others sports are not the same as it is for cricket simply because there are not enough match winners to root for and look forward to. The successes are few and sporadic and have not resulted as a part of the system but rather despite it, because of the excellence of particularly talented individuals. The national game hockey and football are a very distant second.
A nation with genuine sporting culture tries to be good at all sports and not just one, which a handful of countries play and are actually good at in the whole world. The football in India is in a state of decline if it plateaued and is in continuous mediocrity. But curiously, in such a time, there is a generation of viewers who follow European football with vigour, who are a sub-set of genuine sports lovers. These fans are beginning to increase in several regions of the nation, especially the urban centres. These regions have developed because a combination of colonial legacy, the globally televised football leagues and the market economics of urban centers of India.
Globalisation and Indian football
India has always been a place abound with contradictions and irony. A place where prosperity and penury live cheek by jowl. And as much as the EPL has been a success among Indians, the local league has taken a severe hit and suffered due to the might of the factors of globalisation.
The EPL has came in and along with the parallel cable and satellite television growth has made India a spectator market, while the talent market has not been helped at all. Youngsters watch the football but never go to the football pitch. That there are not many is another matter, but neither particularly does Brazil but the football is played in the streets and sands and there again is another irony. They cheer off field but never take the field themselves devoid of infrastructure to play themselves. Because of being not represented at international level for a very long time now, Indian football fans have taken to supporting foreign teams. These adopted favourites are cheered with fervour every two years in the Euros and the World Cup. The panoply of colours and vibrant excitement of Kolkata celebrating a Brazil victory would give Rio de Janerio a run for its money. The support that Portugal has in Goa is as fervent as in Lisbon. Importantly, this is not just for West Bengal and Goa. There are sizable chunk of supporters for Argentina, Spain, Germany and England. And even though this behaviour of Indians may seem peculiar; fed on a staple diet of English Premier League, this adulation and rooting for foreign countries is not that a perplexing development.
This trend has bearings of globalisation which has brought world class quality football to the living rooms of India. The fans watch the EPL which itself has opened up to foreign players over the years and hence gives the visibility and exposure to these players who gradually become favourites and when they don their national colours for Euros or the World cup, that supported is carried over to their respective nations. Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal, Didier Drogba and Ivory Coast and Cesc Fabregas and Spain are prime examples.
There are plenty of reasons for football to grow but the growth has not been organic and wide spread in terms of local team and indigenous talent. The booming of commercial and spectator market will continue as urban centers grow. India has sold and will continue to sell jerseys for English clubs and the broadcasting rights will be sold with higher rates than before.
Economics of football broadcasting in India.
As a measure to involve more eyeballs, the kick-offs of some games in the recent years have been pulled back by FA in England to noon from the traditional late afternoon to allow Asia, especially Singapore and the South-east Asia to get games starting at 8 pm local time. Although not of particular bearing to India, but this move shows the importance given to the global fan and revenue stream by the FA. The games in India have 5.30 pm and 8.30 pm starts which means that they are half an hour (+/-) off the prime time slot. The starting times happen to slightly favour the Indian prime-time viewing too, but the fans would watch the Monday or Tuesday night late kick-offs as well if the club they support is playing, hence the motivation to watch is present.
Motives for EPL viewing
Times have changed since the pre-Independence British India when the poor followed football and cricket was aristocratic. Now and for the past decade too, it is the affluent middle-class youngsters who have become the new followers .A largely urban fan base, with fans in four metropolitan cities and their satellite towns, the motivating factors are many. The cities with fairly good following of the leagues are Trivandrum, Bangalore, Mangalore, Surat and Pune. For the followers it is also about differentiation. They do not want to be identified as cricket crazy .They would rather be true sports aficionados and know the difference between off-side of cricket and football.
The supporting of a club that is half way around the world doesn’t contribute to local, ethnic or national identity; rather it is an expression of individual identity. This need to stand out is the reason to embrace the exuberance and class of the EPL and in that a club to support and root for. And when there are enough people with a similar attitude, they form a sizable chunk of new fans, which is particularly observed in colleges where trends can be infectious. An example can be the city of Mangalore on the west coast of India, very close to where Manipal University is based with more than 20, 000 students. The adjoining regions of Udipi, Mangalore and Manipal and the student cluster over there ensures that Mangalore regularly features in Google trends of searches made regarding the English clubs even above, Kolkata and Pune.
The EPL follower in India is like a fantasy football manager of the club he supports. The use of ‘he’ here is deliberate as the fan is invariably a male. Quite analogous to the armchair quarterback myth in American Football. This fan is a passionate person, religiously following the games throughout the season consumed by the saga of his club’s fate. A positive result uplifts his mood and a terrible performance spoils it.
Indian media and football
The role of media in EPL popularity is also not a small one. By covering the EPL in the newspapers, the reader gets a gradual recognition of the players, teams and the league rivalries. Unlike England where the build-up and post-match reviews and analysis are found in the newspapers, India just carries the results in the following day’s newspapers. However the coverage is substantial especially in metro editions of leading tabloids and newspapers. What is also noticed that other leagues are given decreasingly low print-space. The Spanish League is next on the priority list followed by Serie A .Other teams from Europe like Bayern Munich or Shaktar Donetsk are mentioned only when UEFA Champions League games come along. And the Indian league and domestic tournaments are covered in the local or national sports section. But quite consistently, the EPL stories remain the headline grabbers.
In simple words, India is outsourcing its football entertainment now. Commercial interest of football in India is in the metros and big cities that have become used to seeing the best leagues beamed live into the living rooms and pubs. Increasingly Indians now clamour to buy their official merchandise to exhibit loyalty to respective clubs. This is largely because as on television, even in the newspapers, the visibility of European football is hard to miss. People would wear a club t-shirt as casual wear. Indians would however think more than twice to wear a Nike made Indian cricket jersey if it is not peak cricket season.
The creation of a national TV network and the simultaneous creation of a new consumerist middle class has helped EPL grow a great deal and while India may not have a Ji-Sung Park yet nor decent football parks, yet the game is slowly growing. The broadcasting administration is being quiet about their ambitions and doesn’t want to wage a war against cricket by entering into open competition with the number one sport. That is not going to happen in a very long while, but football is well on its way to become a very close second. The EPL has some major positives, and those being that EPL has a very good system and match schedule worked out which is spread over September–May, carefully addressing the issue of overkill by deft scheduling. Its only weakness is the same as an opportunity – it’s limited to urban areas and its satellite towns, so there lays tremendous room for improvement.
This is the first week of August! The friendship week !!
So companies and brands will come-out with all sorts of friendship day and week packs. More than anything else, it’s another way of the capitalistic market trying to find newer ways to get into the customer’s pocket. Anyway, some campaigns are really good. I found Coke’s vending-machine experiment in Argentina, the simplest and best yet, because they weren’t selling anything, just promoted a special day, by developing an insightful campaign that encouraged people to lend their friends a helping hand and get 2 bottles of Coke for the price of one!
A great anonymous guy once said
“There are 3 types of friends: those like food, without which you can’t live; those like medicine, which you need occasionally; and those like an illness, which you never want.”
Friends are not just of 3 types, there are many more. Remember, that every friend was once a stranger and every person is a friend until proved otherwise. Friends are also the way of God to compensate for relatives. You choose your friends. Since childhood we have made friends. Now we befriend and unfriend online. I made a list of kind of friends we have and i am sure there are more that can be added . If a person’s name flashes across your mind for every type that is mentioned, chances are that you have got a very good friend circle. Friends have a lot of qualities and types. But making a list is always fun. So here goes.
Okay we break for a while nowhere to have a look at the friendship between J.D. and Turk from NBC's long running sitcom Scrubs.Here, best friends J.D. and Turk are sooo excited to see each other after Turk's return from his honeymoon.
back to the list now...
