JK Rowling’ s success and World history

1. Success -sometimes- comes totally out of blue..or more appropriately, as they say in India, “bhagwaan jab deta hai chappar phaad ke deta hai” ( When God gives, he gives much beyond one could imagine)
The writer of Harry Potter series, JK Rowling- one of the world’s richest woman and world’s richest writer- was living on social welfare in UK, mere 11-12 years back. She was completely bankrupt living off odd jobs and stuff. Her success is truly legendary. Me and my friend, Hari Rao, were discussing her yesterday and he made a very valid comment. He said that such kind of astonishing and meteoric rise of fortune can only happen in developed world, where institutions-both social and government-dont completely back off from a person even in the times of dire straits. I agree with him; I could not think of an example of this magnitude in developing world.
Well, talking of Harry Potter books, I never had patience to read such long fantasy books. I was curious to watch the movie though ..First time in Canada, I watched a movie after waiting in the line for 20-25 minutes to get inside the IMax..that speaks of extreme popularity of Harry Potter..
Movie was well made..Hari-who had seen the earlier one- gave me the background of the story…it was a decent experience..

2. I just started reading , ” History of the World” by J.M Roberts. This book is an authority on world history. This book first came out in 1972 or so and it had 10 volumes. Roberts had written the huge opus after putting in research of more than a decade. In 2002, he integrated all the volumes in a shortened one big book . I was always curious to get a macro view of world history- beginning of human life, ancient civilizations, Moor’s civilization, European renaissance etc- from one source/book; This book seems to cover everything in a comprehensive and analytical way. It’s always difficult to write history in an interesting way, but , going from my reading of first chapter, this book seems really gripping. Iam really looking forward to read and finish the 1000 page book.

8 Random Facts about me

Jana tagged me for this and , after postponing it for a while, I actually feel excited writing these random facts.

1. Iam the eldest child of my parents; My father is eldest among his siblings . My grandfather too was eldest among his siblings. My grandmother is eldest among her siblings; And finally, my mother was also born before all her sisters and brothers; So, you see, there are so many firsts in me.Biologically speaking, I should have best of genes. But, quite unsurprisingly, nothing has happened in my life which might suggest that being ” First” comes to me naturally.

2. I need to sleep atleast 8-9 hours everyday.

3. When I was 13, I had a huge crush on Meenakshi Sheshadhari, leading actress of mid-late80’s; After she didnt reply my letters-including a registered letter-, I sent her a telegram ( Yes folks, SRK of “Darr” learnt chasing from me); Iam not sure if that worked , but I did receive a postcard signed by her finally. Fortunately, that was my only celebrity crush. But, I still think that she- along with Smita Patil and Kate Winslet- is the most beautiful woman.

4. Last week for two consecutive days I wore socks from two different pairs; Yes, it was by mistake the first day..but, not the day after!

5. In my 30 years of existence, I have relocated record 16 times. And if I count different houses in same towns/cities, the number will be more than my age. Part of that was due to my father’s transferable job and bigger part of that was due to my inherent vagabond tendencies, rather than anything else ; But I still hope that it hasnt turned me into somebody who is scared of loving too much;

6. I love eating ” Chicken Biryani” ; But, I cannot prepare it myself.

7. 90% of the people here in Montreal/Toronto/US think -when they first see me- that Iam either Spanish or middle eastern. Actually, I have been told that I look anything ( Except ofcourse chinese, black or pure white) but Indian..So, I could be from Mexico, Columbia, Brazil, Portugal, Iran, Yugosolavia and what not. Earlier, I thought it was cool..But, now I get pissed off sometimes..Probably because it’s adding another layer in my already confused identity..

8. Here comes the clincher; Yesterday, when I went to get my bluetooth for my Cell-phone, the saleswoman offered me a discount of 30% …but with a condition; The condition was that I kiss her first; I complied; Common guys, she had a big heart & great sense of humor..nothing else; Nevertheless, it was cool

Now, Iam tagging Shruti, Shuz and 6 other people who read this to post 8 random facts about themselves.

Shahrukh Khan’s Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa Revisited

I first watched KHKN in 1994, year it was released. I was just out of my mid-teens -was in my first year in Engineering college. I think between late 1993 and 1994, SRK’S 3-4 movies ( Darr, Baazigar, KHKN .and one more) were released back to back. I never really liked him Pre-Bazzigar/Darr, and infact wondered , like many, how he became a Hero. ( Remember, those were the days of ultra good looking dudes like Aamir and Salman playing romantic leads)

My views changed after Baazigar/Darr..I saw something really unique about him..the passion with which he played those characters, his high energy levels, that charisma and the way he connected…

But, Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa was something out of the ordinary. I would say it was the first movie after the Parallel cinema movement of 70’s and 80’s which very effortlessly married ” Art” cinema with ” Commercial cinema”. Or in other words, middle of the road cinema. It happened much before the phrase ” Multiplex cinema for the classes” was coined.

Movie is almost perfect! It’s about small town ; it’s about very ” ordinary” people; It’s about simple banters;It’s about “small” successes ;It’s about hearbreaking failures;It’s about world before the “internet”;It’s about innocence; It’s about life and finally, it’s about SRK’s raw appeal before he became larger than life.

People who say that SRK is not a good actor should watch this movie. The scene where he asks for Anna’s hand to her parents is one of the best scenes of his career. It’s simply heart wrenching. And, then the final scene; When the wedding ring falls and gets lost for a little while, the beauty of expressions on Shahrukh’s face tell you that why he has reached these heights of superstardom.

For me, movie is also about my first discovery of celeberating ordinariness and getting comfortable with the idea of losing. For me, it was also about hope that such movies can be made and even appreciated ..( Yes, my dreams of making movies go back to those times..)

Over the years, I watched the movie again and again..crying every time on above mentioned scenes..( Sorry guys, but I do cry ) .
I watched the movie yesterday again after almost 5 years and ..and..and , I again cried!!!..It’s unbelievable!!

And, now, Iam going to write and film the ” last” love story before the Internet..I promise.

Weekend is a farce

Weekend is a farce. Every weekend comes with lot of promise. Before every weekend, I hope to do many things. I plan to clean my apartment, catch up with my buddies, watch some cool movies, read some good articles, spend more time in gym, introspect and…………………………….
Afterall, weekend is so long and there is so much “time” to do things na..
But every weekend turns out to be a failure, bigger than the last one.. I actually end up doing nothing..Why? I really dont know.. May be because I make so many plans that I get overwhelmed by expectations ( But wait, I have even tried setting realistic goals .. with same disastrous results) Or may be because I can only work when I have well defined goals and deadlines to follow…
Whatever, my agenda from now on will be to have no plans whatsoever for the weekend..
I have accepted the fact that they are going to be wasted..so, why get stressed..

End of Honeymoon and Brevity

1. After almost a month of inactivity , my honeymoon with time has come to an abrubt end. Come tommorow and I will start working on consulting project with P&G on ” market for cleaning products for small businesses in Canada “…
Even though it will be lot of work, Iam really excited about this project..I will be doing lot of interesting things..project is for just about 6 weeks and amount of work to be done seems overwhelming..
And then, by 15th July , I have to finish atleast half of my cross cultural training course which Iam designing on my own.. And wait, next week I will start teaching a class at Kaplan ..once a week 3 hour sessions….
Next 5-6 weeks will be a test of character dude..

2. After going through some of the blogs of famous people ( Shekhar kapoor, Aamir Khan), something stuck me. People write loooooooong comments and there are hundreds of such comments..Iam sure nobody in the world is reading all of them..and if they are, they are not utilizing their time properly.. Time is a limited commodity in this present world..
So, the point is ,what could be said in 2 lines should be said in 2 lines rather than 10 lines because extra words, many a times, are just repetition or trying too hard to drive your point..people ought to respect the intelligence of other people reading their blogs or comments ..
So, I have decided that from now on I will try to be succint in my writings and master the art of brevity.

3. Montreal, Iam missing you badly.. I underestimated my love for you..after all, you gave me most of what I have… Is there any way I can come back to you?