A gent, known for his rather profound, motivational statements (most of which aren't even understood by his colleagues, let alone practised) said this today: "Most of us are like the deer which doesn't realise the value of its navel where musk is created (probably because its nose is too far from its navel anyway). And so is it with us... we can't look beyond our nose and see the value of what lies beyond."
True, I guess.
As for me, more than my rather long nose, I'd prefer to look beyond a navel.
Cheers!
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Timing
At a Scenario Planning Workshop in Bangalore held over the last four days...
Case study: list down key 'drivers' that will impact the real-estate industry in India.
One 'driver' suggested by a participant: extra-marital affairs!
And then, the next day, from the driver of the hired car taking us into town in a new Toyota Corolla with no number plates but paper stickers on both front and back windscreens, when asked why he had no number plates: "Timing saar!" (i.e. "no time").
Talk about coincidences...
Case study: list down key 'drivers' that will impact the real-estate industry in India.
One 'driver' suggested by a participant: extra-marital affairs!
And then, the next day, from the driver of the hired car taking us into town in a new Toyota Corolla with no number plates but paper stickers on both front and back windscreens, when asked why he had no number plates: "Timing saar!" (i.e. "no time").
Talk about coincidences...
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Pune: the past and the preacher
February 10th was a weird day in Pune.
I met an uncle retired from the army who I’d been meeting every few years. Nothing noteworthy there.
And then I met – for just the second time in my existence - another uncle who had retired from life itself when I was just two or three years old.
One spent his life in green battle fatigues dodging bullets. Another, clad in saffron, continued to preach love and peace as a sadhu.
Green and saffron… the colours of India?
It takes all kinds to make up this world I suppose. But, caught in the conflicting worlds between the two, I wondered whether the rest of us were in the twilight zone.
And then on the drive back to Bombay, down the Expressway, the car’s antenna picked up a radio signal. And there was AB – awesomely best – sharing the pain of Rozana in Nishabdh. If there is a deep ache in anyone’s voice, it is here. If there are memories it evokes, blame no one but yourself and your past.
The present is nothing but a transition between what was and what will be. Rozana is just that… the agony of a man who knows what he’s lost and knows too that it will not return.
Perhaps that’s why we can only remember the ones gone by and not revel in those who are.
I met an uncle retired from the army who I’d been meeting every few years. Nothing noteworthy there.
And then I met – for just the second time in my existence - another uncle who had retired from life itself when I was just two or three years old.
One spent his life in green battle fatigues dodging bullets. Another, clad in saffron, continued to preach love and peace as a sadhu.
Green and saffron… the colours of India?
It takes all kinds to make up this world I suppose. But, caught in the conflicting worlds between the two, I wondered whether the rest of us were in the twilight zone.
And then on the drive back to Bombay, down the Expressway, the car’s antenna picked up a radio signal. And there was AB – awesomely best – sharing the pain of Rozana in Nishabdh. If there is a deep ache in anyone’s voice, it is here. If there are memories it evokes, blame no one but yourself and your past.
The present is nothing but a transition between what was and what will be. Rozana is just that… the agony of a man who knows what he’s lost and knows too that it will not return.
Perhaps that’s why we can only remember the ones gone by and not revel in those who are.
Hip-or-crazy?
A frequent traveller to another at the airport one morning: "My wife in Bangalore is convinced I have a girlfriend in Hyderabad. And my girlfriend in Hyderabad is sure I have a wife in Bangalore! Doomed I am…”
Remember My Fair Lady? “Get a woman in your life and you’ve got eternal strife!”
Also uttered by the same gent (in his mid-50s I gauge) to his companion, caught between his diva and the spouse: “Why did Amitabh have to do Nishabdh? It’s the first film of his that I hate. How can he play the role of a 60-year old in love with an 18-year old? Chhi-chhi!”
So it’s hip for Mr Doomed to balance two lives in two cities but not for AB to put on yet another mask and stage another performance?
Leaves me nishabdh, I say.
Remember My Fair Lady? “Get a woman in your life and you’ve got eternal strife!”
Also uttered by the same gent (in his mid-50s I gauge) to his companion, caught between his diva and the spouse: “Why did Amitabh have to do Nishabdh? It’s the first film of his that I hate. How can he play the role of a 60-year old in love with an 18-year old? Chhi-chhi!”
So it’s hip for Mr Doomed to balance two lives in two cities but not for AB to put on yet another mask and stage another performance?
Leaves me nishabdh, I say.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
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