I have been a fan of Kelsey Grammer since the first episode of Frasier. So when it recently came to my notice that he was acting in a drama as a character with a negative shade, I was looking forward to it. I completed watching the first season of “Boss”, which is an amazing series. Fantastic stories and subplots, superb dialogues. I jotted down an excerpt from one of the episodes which features the Boss’s political adviser telling him about the nature of punishment. Good lines, even better with the context.
“The punishment should always be commensurate to the crime. It should be proportionate And visible. A punishment is not only an act of retribution, it’s also a signal.
It needs to be seen and understood by anyone else Who might have flirted with the notion of committing the same transgression,
And it’s a signal that no one is exempt from the consequences of betrayal.
We had a saying when I was in the boy scouts whenever we entered a camp:”take pictures,leave footprints.” But now more than ever,you must do neither.
There is a formal aspect to punishment, a ritual nature. It has shape and body. It’s about consequence, Accountability, Actions having repercussions. It’s vital that the transgressors understand the rules they have broken. Your choice of punishment needs to be seen as fair, proportional and reciprocal.
But the nature can only be decided by the punisher himself – You. You decide. The boss.“
January 5, 2012
Punishment – by Boss
July 8, 2011
Delhi Belly: Creative profanity at its best.
I don’t think I can look at a carton of Orange Juice and feel the same again. Nor I think next time I see a Santro car and not think of Delhi Belly.
The story is same boring story about a diamond trail with lots of abuses and intolerable toilet humor, with the main characters miraculously live to see the day.
However what makes the movie so interesting is it dialogue delivery, sequence of events and spontaneous humor.
It’s definitely not a movie to watch with mature and sensitive audience. But I guess it’s like Japanese food. You either love it or you hate it there… there is no middle path. However kudos to Bollywood for finally making a guy’s movie that does revolve around getting laid or dirty talk which degrades women.
Verdict: Must watch for those who find all this appealing… for the rest it would be the longest 90 minutes of their life (even if they did not have to pay for the tickets/popcorn/parking etc.)
September 30, 2010
Nadi Shastra
For those who don’t know Nadi Shastra is a famous art of Tamil Astrology (Nadi means ‘in search of’). The practitioners claim that the stages of ancient India have recorded the entire human chain of events on a bundle of palm leaves. Based on the individuals thumb print and answers to a series of questions the practitioner is able to retrieve the relevant record (reference palm leaf and the predictions palm leaf) Over the past 20 centuries, several of these leaves are destroyed in fire, flood or due to carelessness. Also only one copy of the record exists. The Nadi Shastra centers have to issue these leaves and return them on a weekly basis. So the chance that your leaf would turn up in the center on that particular day is remote. However to the curiosity of my friend, his leaf turned up in 2 centers on the same day.
Have you wondered that whenever an unmarried person visits Nadi Sastra center, his/her leaf will not contain any information about his spouse’s name. However immediately after marriage, the leaf has the spouse’s name.
How many guesses will it take to correctly predict a randomly chosen number from 1- 127?
Answer: 7 (clue binary search tree algorithm)
They start with a group of commonly used alphabets and eliminate it one by one to obtain to arrive at the right answer. This coupled up with a few intelligent guesses helps build up the entire persona and predictions. Remember, a human being is a believer by nature. (or believes in disbelief) So irrespective of the information provided, he always hunts for an analogy, clause or an instance where the spoken words are true. That is why even a 2/- newspaper is able to make a quite accurate prediction of one’s day.
I would like up to sum up with the words of one of my friend who once said:
“Astrology is a dangerous art. I don’t know if there is any truth in this science, but there is then the astrologer would know things about me, my thoughts and actions even before I realize those words or actions are even possible. If it is bogus, then these guys can subtly persuade and influence me into acts and deeds that they think I should do without providing any logical bias.”
September 3, 2010
Movie Reviews
Movie Review: Welcome to Sajanpur
This is another movie with a interesting story line. Shot in a remote backward village of India, the story revolves around a letter-writer who passionately helps illiterates write to their loved ones. Naturally, the story splits into several sub-stories each revolving around his clients. Although you might feel that some parts of the story are exaggerated, which the author himself acknowledges, but the movie is still quite amusing and unpredictable.
Movie Review: Yeh Mera India
This is a very good Hindi remake of the movie LA Crash 2004 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crash_(2004_film) . Set in Mumbai the story revolves around more than a dozen seemingly ordinary characters, each with a totally different personality, desires and yet in a creatively way intertwined each and every one to create an interesting story where the actions and thoughts of one effect the life of another. Amongst the movies with a social/patriotic message, I should say this movie would be the most interesting one. It makes you appreciate the true India without going overboard with strong emotions.
Like this:
September 1, 2010
Movie Review: Jonny Gaddar
This is one of the interesting Bollywood movies. The story revolves round 5 friends who (by beg borrow or steal) accumulate 2.5 Crore (25 million INR) for an illegal transaction. Unfortunately one of the friends got greedy and decided to intercept the money during transit. After this the movie takes several interesting turns, twists which will keep you hooked till the very last scene.
June 18, 2010
Q drum
There is no dearth of innovation.
Carrying portable water from the wells/streams to the house has traditionally been a back breaking job for most women in the villages of India. To solve this problem, Q-Drum was invented. This cylindrical structure has a provision to tie a rope in the center using which even a kid can roll 50L of water on a flat surface.
I have ordered for one such drum for myself and would post the field test results once i conduct them.
