Differences and Similarities

 I was born in 1960, and have been through six decades of life. What are the similarities and differences in each decade, or among various time periods?

Similarities

Family is still an important part of life and life support for most of us.

The middle class still believes in education as a transformational tool.

The politician has not changed much. Promises outpace real change.

Corporates rule the roost-though a different set.

Wars remain, fought for any stupid reason. 

Differences

Technology has enabled Work From Home, Travel (simulated), conversations across the globe, digital photography

Families are getting smaller in size, at least urban families

Agriculture is losing out to Services in contribution to the GDP.

Careers other than engineering have gained traction.

Globally, wars are supplemented by shootings, and more suicides than before.

A Sense of Entitlement

 Sometimes, we see a sense of entitlement among people.

I should get this because I am entitled to, is the message. If you are a customer, you are entitled to a defect-free product, delivered on the promised date, etc. So far, so good, because it's in the contract that companies have.

But I am talking of other situations, where there is an effort required from the person concerned. Most often, it's seen by profs. among some students who think they deserve a certain grade or some marks. If only you could be the Judge AND the Executioner!

But also among employees at certain times. An employer is not bound to give you a promotion, a raise or whatever beyond the usual norm. Sometimes, if the company is facing headwinds, not even that. And the employee of course has a recourse- he can leave. Of course, most employers do not treat an employee so badly, but still, that feeling of entitlement is misplaced. Unless you own the company, or your Mom/Dad does.

Just an observation, nothing serious.

Film Review- Pathaan

 It's slick, and it has some good locations where it's shot. But it's at least 30 minutes too long- the last fifteen could easily have been eliminated without any loss to the narrative. And it seems like a hotch-potch of various action films I have seen, including a few Bond films. And the cheeky one-liners are missing. Bond heroes are suave, and well-dressed, except in bed. 

Not sure what to make of the action scenes. For one, they are too long. Even Amitabh, thirty years ago finished off his job pretty quickly. What takes Shah Rukh and Salman bhai so long?

The infamous song is ok, no big deal. In general, the dialogue sucks. Dimple and Ashutosh Rana are believable. The hi-jinks action is not. Some of it, like the bikes on a frozen lake, are almost comical. John Abraham does reasonably well as a villain.

5 out of 10 would be a fair rating, in my opinion. But then, it's my opinion.

Bond Films

 Bond- James Bond! Iconic title songs, and that visual of Bond in a circular camera shutter, ..iconic stuff that we grew up with.

Of course, there were fast cars with stuff, other fancy gadgets, and exotic locations- from Iceland to the Bahamas. I was overawed with all that. The villains were iconic too, and Jaws was terrifying. But Bond had a solution to every problem. He never gave up. A good lesson.

And his one-liners were to die for...

With one of my favourite Bonds- in Lonavala.

Friends Through Golf and IIM Indore

 Golf has given me a lot of new friends- teaching it, I mean. One of these I taught on request, was a talented actor from IIM Indore FPM program, Prachi Jain. She also brought in Akansh, another young actor who'd also acted with her in a play directed by Shweta Kushal- The Merchant of Venice, in Feb 2020. Through her, I got to meet and make friends with a few more Ph.D. students. These will all be stars of the academic firmament soon. Some pics from a recent get-together where we got to eat some good food, accompanied by banter- both very tasty :)

Geeti, me, Prachi, Akansh, Pratishtha, Minali, Vartika, Neeti, and Puloma, above.

Getting lovey-dovey, below- Puloma and Minali.

The eco warriors (from Economics area) pose -above,  and the whole jing-bang, below.

Next stop- a Golf Driving range.

Branding in Bollywood

 I have been a movie-goer since I was around 10. But I learnt about branding only during my MBA. So this is about looking back at some of the big brands that Bollywood has had over the last five deacdes, with emphasis on the earlier times.

Directors- Vijay Anand directed some of my favourite films- Jewel Thief, Johnny Mera Naam and Teesri Manzil. He was known for a slick script, good picturisation and music in films he made.

Manmohan Desai did potboilers very well, with a mix of all masalas- comedy, action, drama and emotion. He used Amitabh well in Amar, Akbar, Anthony.

Ramesh Sippy made Sholay on a scale only recently matched by Bahubali, RRR and others. This was in 1975, without too many computersied special effects- sound effects were used well. 

K. Asif, likewise, for Mughal-e-Azam. Made on a scale that was unprecedented.

Hrishikesh Mukherjee with his unique style of comedies (Golmaal being a great example), Basu Chatterjee with his own realistic films (Rajnigandha, Chitchor), Shyam Benegal on social issues (Manthan, Ankur)

Actors

Madhubala for versatility- she dominated tragedy (Mughal-e-Azam) and comedy (Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi) with aplomb. Matched by Kishore Kumar - he was serious in some of his home productions.

Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor. Each very different, and projecting a different association- Romance, Tragedy and the plight of the Common Man (done in a Chaplinesque manner).

Rajesh Khanna the romantic hero, Amitabh, the Angry Young Man. Aamir Khan, the perfectionist with a variety of roles

Singers

Shamshad Begum, with a nasal twang, Lata Mangeshkar with an amazing voice and range, Rafi who had a great voice and trained in music, Kishore Kumar who was an untrained or self-trained genius, Asha Bhosle who had the best cabaret songs requiring a come-hither quality, Manna Dey who excelled at classical and light songs (he sang many for Mehmood), 

A Graduation in the Family

 My second daughter Pooja just graduated from University of York, U.K.. A Master's in Cultural Heritage Mgt., after a Bachelor of Architecture earlier from India. The first works for Tata Classedge, an edtech company after her M.A. in English.

That completes the cycle of responsibility that Indian parents have towards their kids. Marriage is optional, and their business to decide on, when they feel like it. I will attend it, for sure. 

Some pics-