Kiddies' Class

Like First Class, Business Class and Economy class, all airlines and trains in India should also have a Kiddies' Class - the class of travel of parents / adults with kids. This set of seats / set of coaches can be more spacious and brighter than the other coaches, with play area and child safe interiors.
As a parent if i can be guaranteed a safe and enjoyable journey for myself and my child(ren) either by train or flight because of such facilities, I will surely be willing to pay atleast 10% more than the current fare.
As a frequent traveller / traveller without children I would be guaranteed a quiet, peaceful journey during which i can catch up on my reading and sleeping. I would definitely be willing to pay atleast 10% more than the current fare for such a facility.

Travelling with children is not easy. As the popular joke goes, there are two classes of travel - one with children and one without! I am a successful survivor of an eventful 5 hour train journey with 3 hyperactive young girls, right next to me. Firstly I admire their energy levels - they reached new heights in consistency of performance, in this case, vocal volume. So much so that their high decibel comments, shrieks and playful banter are still echoing in my ears. Secondly, I admire the energy levels of the adults supervising them, who were also consistent and meticulous in trying to get them to pipe down. Needless to say they were barely successful.

Since I do not want to be a wet blanket and crib on what is otherwise considered a joy in one's life (in this case, children), I want to be constructive and suggest a solution. Kiddies' Class anyone?

Kaavalan: Odyssey of the Clueless

I agreed to watch this movie on my dad's insistence - that this was 1) "different" from Vijay's other movies, and 2) his famous "comeback" movie.

15 minutes into it and I knew that nothing had changed. I watched Vijay beat up men twice his size and alternate between military man and lover boy while serenading the heroine (Asin in a pitifully dumb role). It turns out that along with Rajnikanth's punch dialogues and Kamal Hassan's on screen charisma, romantic sweet nothings between the underdog and the rich heiress never goes out of fashion. If not for the denims and the cellphones on screen, this could well have been a 1990s, 1980s or even a 1970s movie.

The music is the only high point. Contemporary, to the point and heart touchingly poignant at the right times, it props up the story and the dull scenes as much as it can, and much more. The songs are also hummable.

I know that Vijay and his movies do not cater to us, the urban, English speaking Tamil population. Stories do not make sense because they are not supposed to. The hero always wins, no matter what the odds. Size, skin colour, height and money make no difference to the inevitable happy ending. I know that in Vijay's world the hero and the heroine are young, college going innocents waiting for their true love, and they always will be young and innocent. In his world love is the indefinable feeling that overpowers you when you are not looking. And it always wins in the end.

As I watched the annoyingly predictable story unfold I could not help wondering if unlike Vijay's movies, I had lost my innocence too soon, too fast. Maybe life's ability to stay simple depends on our ability to simplify it.

Manmadan Ambu: The cracker that almost burst

I walked into the cinema hall looking forward to light hearted entertainer. The good part is I got to see one. The bad part is this creation has some gaping holes that stay in your mind, like a bitter aftertaste.

The film begins on a high note, with dramatic entrances of the main stars (a stunning Trisha, an overweight Madhavan and the evergreen Kamal Hassan) and slick movement between scenes. Most of the story takes place in Europe, where Ambujakshi (played by Trisha), a top actress is holidaying with her school friend Deepa (played by Sangeetha) and Retired Major R. Mannar (Kamal Hassan) is spying on Trisha. The movie scores for its contemporary shades - Trisha holidaying with her school friend Deepa and Deepa's two children in Europe (in today's world, friends are like family), Kamal Hassan skypes with his friend whose chemo treatment he is raising funds for. Humour and drama interweave together comfortably.

The music is catchy and extremely hummable. I especially loved "Who's the Hero", the jazz-like tune which accompanies Kamal Hassan's entrance. It is a perfect integration of character, situation and background music. The cinematography is tight and makes clever use of metaphors to signify movement and mystery at key points of the story.

Trisha pitches in an understated performance which is demanded of her character. However in some scenes she lacks the fire and passion her character Ambujakshi (real name) aka Nisha (screen name) claims to espouse. Madhavan starts off with a bang and then proceeds to deteriorate steadily not only in sobreity but also in quality of performance. His character is a mess and he ends up looking like a bumbling fool who sets new standards for stupidity. Sangeetha is competent as Trisha's school friend Deepa and mother of two young children, bringing in just the right amount of pizazz and compassion without sounding like a wilting rose at one extreme or a bitter divorcee at the other. Vishwanath, Deepa's son's act is the only one which shines - from the curious child to the budding detective. My biggest regret is not seeing more of Usha Uthup, who plays Madhavan's mother. She is rivetting in the few scenes in which she appears to cooperate with her son's choice of life partner in Trisha but secretly conspires to separate them. The evil stepmother to the hilt, only that in this case she is the biological mother. Her role shows great promise but has been terribly shortened.

The build up after the second half pointed to a delectable comedy of errors involving all the lead actors, reminiscent of past works by Kamal like Magalir Mattum, Panchatantram, Sati Leelavati.. the list is quite long! Maybe it was the movie precedents or just great expectations, but the end petered out like a damp firecracker. Madhavan's eternally drunk act crossed from being endearing to being plain irritating. The romance between Kamal and Trisha was half baked and ratified by their staring into each other's eyes in the last scene.

MMA is definitely worth a watch. For the scintillating music, a gorgeous Trisha and for the promise of seeing Kamal Hassan in a role of the most endearing kind - the underdog with great strength of mind and body.

It's here!

It was how you felt just before you got your final exam marks in school, or before entering that interview of your dream company in college. It's how you feel just before bungee jumping off a cliff, the fresh air brushing your cheeks while you take a deep breath and gather your courage.

Just imagine every one of these moments stretched to cover a much longer period of time, like 6 months or a year. There's life zipping past on its motorbike, and there's you on it, all set to tackle the speed, complete with goggles, helmet, black leather jacket and thumbs up sign. It's exhilerating, momentous, thrilling. Your mind is on overdrive at this time, absorbing events and people at twice its normal ability, if not more. In fact your brain is so much on overdrive that you need to lull it to sleep every night by counting sheep jumping over a fence or reading inane romances. Life is a 24 X 7 News ticker.

I've been at it for the past 9 months or so and I have only one thing to say about it: I'm lovin it!

Success

There are some things success is not. It's not fame, it's not money or power. Success is waking up in the morning so excited about what you have to do, that you will really fly out the door. It's getting to work with people you love. Success is connecting with the world and making people feel. It's finding a way to bind together people who have nothing in common but a dream. It's falling asleep at night knowing that you did the best job you could. Success is joy, and freedom. And friendship. And success is love. - Fame (2010)

Go Kiss the World!

Labonya Porva, mother of the author Subroto Bagchi told him to “Go kiss the World”, and that is exactly what he did. A story of a small town son of a government officer making it big, “Go Kiss the World” is sprinkled with gems of wisdom, albeit carefully strewn so as not to make the book too heavy in jargon or fundas.

The book is the story of an ordinary man who led an extraordinary life. The writing style is energetic and straight from the heart. One cannot help but live Subroto’s life along with him during the course of the narrative; from the material simplicity of his upbringing in interior Orissa, through the swerves and curves of his professional career and finally the enriching experience of creating MindTree, one of India’s Top IT companies. Along the way Subroto sprinkles his narratives with meaningful takeaways. Like nuts in a chocolate bar, they enhance the overall flavor of the book without dominating its easygoing tone. The author switches from the abstractly philosophical (“our lives are like rivers – the source seldom reveals the confluence”), to the tangibly businesslike (“…That rapid growth had to be managed carefully because, as Peter Drucker has said, all growth can be inherently destructive”) with natural ease.

However, the discerning reader might detect a simplistic approach to the writing. It seems that all the experiences passed the author by, with decisions taken and paths changed at the appropriate time without much effort. Some incidents, like when the author was setting up MindTree’s US office in the early days lack the intensity of struggle and the associated pressure. These emotions and the atmosphere which could have defined the outcome, as well as its influence in the author’s life are missing from the narrative.

For young working professionals, the book has parts which will appeal to those at various stages of their careers. The ones struggling to find their foothold can take heart in the thought that everyone faces crossroads in their lives. The important thing is to make the right decision at each crossroad. The ones who have their dream job and consider themselves arrived in the corporate scene may not be surprised if what they valued today suddenly seems immaterial tomorrow. The book ends with a chapter summarizing key points - a useful trend followed by most non-fiction/business oriented books today.

All in all, an enjoyable read. As you close the book on its last page you are left with the fleeting impression that success is not uni-dimensional, it has layers and is defined by the person who is experiencing it. Then again, all success stories have happy endings. Maybe that is why most of them become books.

It's complicated!

I guess that is what a lot of people will say about life. At one point in time, I might have agreed. But some telling experiences later, I can safely say that 1) Life can definitely be simple 2) A simple life definitely rocks!

Maybe I have been just plain lucky, but I have always been able to remove the people causing complications in my life out of my orbit. It might not have happened immediately but there has always been a distinct change in the presence of such events or people in my life. So if they were around earlier, well, they no longer are.