"Ella Pugazhum Iraivanukke" ,"Mere paas Ma hai", "Ohm" the sweetest word , "jai Ho India" , Where did you expect these words to be used .... On a stage in Chennai... or Mumbai maybe.... hmmm the whole world saw these words resonated on a world's famous and most acepted stage where Indians were recognized, a film based on India's soul was recognized, a humble musical genius was recognized. A.R Rahman made us all proud, as did the film "SlumDog Millionaire" and Resul Pukutty. But this oscar belongs to only one person, who won two awards on the same stage. Its our own Rahman who made India proud. When he uttered few words in tamil, I almost teared up. A person from my local and my language made me proud.
This victory of Rahman is sweet for all of us Indians,for one big reason, He didnt win this award for his composition for "Lord of rings 3" english stage drama, not for his "Warriors of heaven and earth" a chinese film... but for a Indian music, a music which he made westerners to stand up and stun. The film music had lots of my national language Hindi elements and still accepted , thats the strength and power of Rahman music's reach.
In all, its a night we have been waiting for and Rahman didnt disappoint his fans. A golden Globe, a Bafta and now "2" Oscars.....You rock and we love and salute you sir.................
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Music Review-Yavarum Nalam
After a year’s gap, maddy’s new Tamil film Yavarum Nalam is getting released next month.It’s a high budget promising suspense thriller. Being an ardent fan of his, I was waiting for the music release and today I heard all the songs(Shankar Ehasaan loy).Not once but twice , so that I am eligible to give a review. Before even starting to listen, the list of songs was bizarre for me.5 original scores and 4 more remixes of the same 4 out of 5 songs. I could not understand the logic of including two versions of the same songs. Maybe the music directors Shankar, Ehson and Loy (Shanky’s grp), each came up with a score and ultimately the director liked two of the three versions and wanted it in the CD.My weird guess ;-P . Now here’s my review of Yavaram Nalam Tamil Songs . ‘Yavarum Nalam’ sung by Shankar Mahadevan , the title song is a soothing number but could have added more energy.May serve as a BGM when the title and names of artists rolls up at the start of the film. The remix version adds little pace but still below par.’Chinnakkuyil Koovam’ sung by Kartik is reminiscent of old songs, lacking freshness.The remix version also fails to make an impact.Kaatrilae Vaasame sung by Shankar Mahadevan & Chitra is again a 90’s number.The singers’ voice is of course sweet but the music isn’t.The remix version is no different. ‘Oh Sexy Mama’ by Jazzie Gift, Anuradha Sriram & Loy Mendonsa tries a new genre compared to the others in the film, a kind of rap.In the remix version, the ending of the song is very interesting with some good sweet beats. The Theme (Instrumental) is a classical drama thriller BGM, nothing more than that. All in all ,I don’t know if the music will help the cause of a thriller movie, but it is sure not to create any ripples in its audio sales. I would give an average rating, thumbs-down for all the disappointing compositions from Shanky’s group.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Know to say "No"
I happened to read a good article by speaker Rinus le Roux on how to say no and avoid saying yes always. And I just thought of sharing that article with you. Hope it is of some help in your corporate life where each act of yours carries significance and has repercussions.
Here's how to just say 'no'
The inability to say "no" has been blamed on Calvinism, the strict middle-class upbringing that most of us were exposed to, the fear of rejection, etc.Whatever the reason, one thing is certain, this inability has become a disability … all over the globe.It is not a difficult word to learn or understand, but it is definitely loaded with emotional connotations. It is especially bad when a request comes from a superior person or from someone that we love. It is almost as if one goes into the victim mode immediately, saying "yes" when everything in your being is screaming "no"!
There are many reasons why we struggle with this powerful two-letter word. Here are two of the most important ones:
• Vague boundaries: If your personal boundaries are not clearly defined, it is easier for someone else to twist your arm. The clearer your boundaries, the more difficult it will be for others, or even yourself, to overstep them. Despite the fact that emotions come into play, set your boundaries in a conscious way and trust yourself to uphold them.
• Deep insecurities: This is the most difficult issue to tackle because it has to do with your self-governance system, which includes your deepest beliefs and values. If you believe you are an unworthy person, operating from a low self esteem, you will really struggle to say "no". You will feel that by agreeing to do what is asked of you, your self-worth and self-value will increase. Ironically, the opposite is actually true. If you constantly give in without taking a definitive stand you are undermining and reducing your self-worth. Dealing with this issue will take you on a journey towards the self and it will trigger a process of empowerment through new beliefs and ventures.
If the struggle to just say "no" to all the requests and demands knocking at your door becomes too difficult, consider the following:
• If you don't learn to say "no", burnout will definitely be a visitor at your door.
• You have the right to say "no".
• Only a fool juggles more balls than he or she can handle.
• To protect yourself you need to live within boundaries - and you set them.
• Respect yourself before you respect anyone else.
• Your self-worth is worth more than being rejected.
We often feel we must always be available to whatever it is we are committed to. Commitment is not a 24/7 availability business. Remember, we teach people how to treat us. The responsibility lies within us to set the boundaries.
When we say "yes", it should be because we want to.
Setting boundaries by saying "no" makes saying "yes" just so much more meaningful.
See you all in my next blog and hope I have been of some service to you today!!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Do we need a return to Swadeshi Economics?
I have always been a strong supporter of Globalization , as my formative years were spent in seeing P.V Narasasimha Rao and FM at that time ,Manmohan Singh's policies for new India. Their policies got us rich dividends and India opened up to the world market. This was also a time when we started identifying ourselves with the US more than with Russia as a global partner. And over the period of 15 to 20 years we have marched progressively. We started to embrace the US mode of economic policies believing in its success.
Now we started seeing the dollar crisis for over an year now and its worsening day by day in US.Closure of major banks, filing of bankruptcy by leading companies, crashing stock exchange and a poor GDP. This according to the economists should not be seen as a global slowdown , rather its an american economic crisis which they inflicted upon the whole world. And How should the countries like India react? Their answer is very simple. There is not need to panic. India is a "Saving ecoomy". "Family" being a strong institution in India and since they do not rely upon stocks rather rely on safe mode of deposits, Indian micro-level (family level) economics is strong and so at the macro level (country level) also its stronger. And it calls for more interest in what is called a Swadeshi mode of economics.That is to increase consumption of products in India itself reducing the country's dependence upon exports. This will protect and insulate India from any global slowdowns. And according to IMF growth rate of India is going to be the highest in the world next year second only to China. Even in China "Family" as a entity is very strong unlike US. So there is more providence and less dependence on the Govt ( to request bail out in emergency)
Acc. to leading economist M.R Venakatesh, the Swadeshi idea is all about balancing past excessive dependence on external demand, urban-based mass manufacturing, and unproductive asset-building on one hand; with structural development in domestic demand, traditional sectors (e.g., agriculture, SMEs, and rural households) and entrepreneurs, and improvement in the pricing power of Swadeshi goods and services on the other. So we can understand that, India should move along in its path of Globalization with caution and rely more on its domestic consumption of products and services, rather than believing that export can only drive economy.Infact export-led growth has reinforced the dependency of developing countries on the developed world, thus becoming vulnerable to slowdowns in the latter's markets . Infact we need to promote development by relying on the expansion of domestic demand, take the expansion of domestic demand, especially consumption, as a major driving force, and transform economic growth from being driven by investment and export to being driven by consumption, investment, domestic and foreign demand combined in a balanced manner.
Thank you all. See you in my next post.
Sivasundar
Now we started seeing the dollar crisis for over an year now and its worsening day by day in US.Closure of major banks, filing of bankruptcy by leading companies, crashing stock exchange and a poor GDP. This according to the economists should not be seen as a global slowdown , rather its an american economic crisis which they inflicted upon the whole world. And How should the countries like India react? Their answer is very simple. There is not need to panic. India is a "Saving ecoomy". "Family" being a strong institution in India and since they do not rely upon stocks rather rely on safe mode of deposits, Indian micro-level (family level) economics is strong and so at the macro level (country level) also its stronger. And it calls for more interest in what is called a Swadeshi mode of economics.That is to increase consumption of products in India itself reducing the country's dependence upon exports. This will protect and insulate India from any global slowdowns. And according to IMF growth rate of India is going to be the highest in the world next year second only to China. Even in China "Family" as a entity is very strong unlike US. So there is more providence and less dependence on the Govt ( to request bail out in emergency)
Acc. to leading economist M.R Venakatesh, the Swadeshi idea is all about balancing past excessive dependence on external demand, urban-based mass manufacturing, and unproductive asset-building on one hand; with structural development in domestic demand, traditional sectors (e.g., agriculture, SMEs, and rural households) and entrepreneurs, and improvement in the pricing power of Swadeshi goods and services on the other. So we can understand that, India should move along in its path of Globalization with caution and rely more on its domestic consumption of products and services, rather than believing that export can only drive economy.Infact export-led growth has reinforced the dependency of developing countries on the developed world, thus becoming vulnerable to slowdowns in the latter's markets . Infact we need to promote development by relying on the expansion of domestic demand, take the expansion of domestic demand, especially consumption, as a major driving force, and transform economic growth from being driven by investment and export to being driven by consumption, investment, domestic and foreign demand combined in a balanced manner.
Thank you all. See you in my next post.
Sivasundar
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Who will form the next government in India?
Hi Friends, the Election commission of India has announced tentative dates for the Indian general elections (Lok Sabha) as April 8th 2009.Since the dates are just three months away, and as the main political parties are gearing up for the polls with announcements of list of candidates, its my endeavor to put a few thoughts on who is likely to form the next government.
The incumbent Manmohan Singh-led government has lost the confidence of the people for several reasons. To name a few
1)Uncontrolled Inflation (when the PM is considered to be a finance genius.)
2)Inadequate Security for people (Terrorists and LTTE’s easy infiltration into the country).
3)Weak Home and finance ministry.
4)10 Janpath’s precedence over the PMO’s in all issues, thereby weakening its credibility and power.
So with these factors occupying the voters mind, an anti-incumbency wave is sure to hit during the elections with the BJP led NDA being the beneficiary as the third-front has no real force in the recent times.
The NDA has announced Shri.Advani as the PM candidate and that’s a very positive sign for Indian Politics. Advani has been always the most misquoted and misunderstood leader India has seen. His views and motives are development oriented with a swadeshi outlook (Much needed positive trend considering the fact that there is a global economic crisis and India is not affected by that totally and should continue to be insulated from that). But the media has always been trying to pull him down raking issues like Hindutva agenda of his or nationalism. But this time media should be responsible and understand that India needs people like him to lead.
Coming to the Positives for the NDA, to name a few,
1) Probability of a strong candidate like Modi for Home Minister (which will send a danger signal to all who want to create unrest in India; He has handled several issues amazingly well in Gujarat and is a model chief minister).
2) Several state election results in the past one year, where BJP states have won hands down except one or two.
3) Anti-Incumbency against DMK would mean that BJP in alliance with the ADMK can sweep the seats in TN.
4) The positives of the previous Vajpayee Government which will still linger in the mind of the voter.
To conclude, if the NDA is able to pull up their socks and bring up a realistic common-minimum agenda and make amends to the “India Shining” campaign by preparing an all-inclusive election manifesto, they can sweep the polls with BJP securing the single largest party-majority.
See you all in my next blog.Jai Hind
The incumbent Manmohan Singh-led government has lost the confidence of the people for several reasons. To name a few
1)Uncontrolled Inflation (when the PM is considered to be a finance genius.)
2)Inadequate Security for people (Terrorists and LTTE’s easy infiltration into the country).
3)Weak Home and finance ministry.
4)10 Janpath’s precedence over the PMO’s in all issues, thereby weakening its credibility and power.
So with these factors occupying the voters mind, an anti-incumbency wave is sure to hit during the elections with the BJP led NDA being the beneficiary as the third-front has no real force in the recent times.
The NDA has announced Shri.Advani as the PM candidate and that’s a very positive sign for Indian Politics. Advani has been always the most misquoted and misunderstood leader India has seen. His views and motives are development oriented with a swadeshi outlook (Much needed positive trend considering the fact that there is a global economic crisis and India is not affected by that totally and should continue to be insulated from that). But the media has always been trying to pull him down raking issues like Hindutva agenda of his or nationalism. But this time media should be responsible and understand that India needs people like him to lead.
Coming to the Positives for the NDA, to name a few,
1) Probability of a strong candidate like Modi for Home Minister (which will send a danger signal to all who want to create unrest in India; He has handled several issues amazingly well in Gujarat and is a model chief minister).
2) Several state election results in the past one year, where BJP states have won hands down except one or two.
3) Anti-Incumbency against DMK would mean that BJP in alliance with the ADMK can sweep the seats in TN.
4) The positives of the previous Vajpayee Government which will still linger in the mind of the voter.
To conclude, if the NDA is able to pull up their socks and bring up a realistic common-minimum agenda and make amends to the “India Shining” campaign by preparing an all-inclusive election manifesto, they can sweep the polls with BJP securing the single largest party-majority.
See you all in my next blog.Jai Hind
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Inspiration from Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture
Hi everybody, Nice to meet you all in another post of mine. I am going to talk about a topic which is very close to my heart, that’s philosophy of motivation, a personality management kinda philosophy. My first experience with a self- motivational book was when I read Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win friends and influence people.” written way back in the forties. the book brought about a distinct change in my life and my approach towards people. I started giving importance to other’s thoughts ,feelings, and made me totally understand the human mind and what it seeks from another fellow human being.I understood deeper insights of life from that book. The next major book which influenced my way of thoughts was Poelo Coelho’s Alchemist. At the start of the book he made an remarkable statement which altogether changed my perception of life. “What’s the world’s greatest lie? It’s this: that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what’s happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate”. The next book which I love to read even today and is my bible for life is Robin Sharma’s International bestseller “The Monk who sold his ferari”. This book almost became my source of solace and comfort during my trying times. I don’t like to quote anything particular from this book , not because most of you would have read it but because each and every word in the book is worth its weight in gold.
Now why am I telling all about these books to you…..and how’s it related to the topic I have used for the post. Dont wonder more… I saw an amazing video yesterday..and it dealt with motivational philosophy.. Yes It was of the same genre of the books I have mentioned above… but the difference is It was not told by a mangement guru or a seasoned motivational speaker but an ordinary individual…. His name was Randy Pausch…. Late Dr.Randy Pausch , a professor of computer science (No way related to mangement or philosophy)at the Carnegie mellon University(CMU). He was known only to a closed group of people around him in the university before September 18th 2007. On that day he delivered a lecture to a small audience in CMU on the Universities lecture series on the topic last lecture.The theme was simple, “what would you be telling people , if you are to give your last lecture?” . many people have given lectures on their fields of interest in that theme in CMU but Randy’s case was different. Because. he knew that it would really be his last lecture as he is diagnosed for Pancreatic cancer and would have just 3 to 6 months of life. At this emotianlly challenging juncture Randy’s speech made history , he made a world stand up . His “Last Lecture” was posted in the web and the viewership was mindboggling. Later wall street published the speech as a book. Oprah had a show on him. The congress summoned him to explain the plight of the dreadful disease. This was the impact he created by that 1 hour 16 minute lecture. I am not going into details of what he spoke but allow you to watch it and embrace it. Each and every word uttered had a meaning to it…. And a dying man won’t waste time !!!!!!! “When you were born you cried and the whole world smiled, When you die you smile and let the whole world Cry for you!!. Randy was a synonym for these words… With no more excuses for taking ur time… meet you in my next blog… for now Over to Dr.Randy’s “LAST LECTURE… a LASTING LECTURE”. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo
Now why am I telling all about these books to you…..and how’s it related to the topic I have used for the post. Dont wonder more… I saw an amazing video yesterday..and it dealt with motivational philosophy.. Yes It was of the same genre of the books I have mentioned above… but the difference is It was not told by a mangement guru or a seasoned motivational speaker but an ordinary individual…. His name was Randy Pausch…. Late Dr.Randy Pausch , a professor of computer science (No way related to mangement or philosophy)at the Carnegie mellon University(CMU). He was known only to a closed group of people around him in the university before September 18th 2007. On that day he delivered a lecture to a small audience in CMU on the Universities lecture series on the topic last lecture.The theme was simple, “what would you be telling people , if you are to give your last lecture?” . many people have given lectures on their fields of interest in that theme in CMU but Randy’s case was different. Because. he knew that it would really be his last lecture as he is diagnosed for Pancreatic cancer and would have just 3 to 6 months of life. At this emotianlly challenging juncture Randy’s speech made history , he made a world stand up . His “Last Lecture” was posted in the web and the viewership was mindboggling. Later wall street published the speech as a book. Oprah had a show on him. The congress summoned him to explain the plight of the dreadful disease. This was the impact he created by that 1 hour 16 minute lecture. I am not going into details of what he spoke but allow you to watch it and embrace it. Each and every word uttered had a meaning to it…. And a dying man won’t waste time !!!!!!! “When you were born you cried and the whole world smiled, When you die you smile and let the whole world Cry for you!!. Randy was a synonym for these words… With no more excuses for taking ur time… meet you in my next blog… for now Over to Dr.Randy’s “LAST LECTURE… a LASTING LECTURE”. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Movie Review- Varanam Ayiram
I should say I saw a wonderfully constructed movie with enough emotions, balanced screenplay,simple but Powerful words and awesome acting. Yes Varanam Ayiram, surya has lived in a movie and showed that he is the next kamlaHassan of tamil film industry.He almost made a Dasavatharam with no fuss. Boy.... whatta acting..what amazing body language... and more importantly that twinkling smile throughout the movie.About the movie,it revolves around as a epitaph of the death of Surya's father in the film played by himself with character name Krishnan. He tells how his dad shaped his whole life.There is nothing special, he says about his father than to say that he gave the right confidence to him when needed. Thats a simple and powerful analysis of a Dad-Son chemistry.We have seen a similar depiction about the role of a father in one's life in Cheran's Thavamai Thavamirundhu, which is a classic I would say. But that revolved around a rustic characterisation, while VA revolves around a urban life of a dad and son, coming from a similar kinda life situations this film struck a chord with me. The story narration type was similar to Cheran's autograph with little bit of modernisation and picturisation.Gautam scores in his first half story telling , with two small love stories one with a tragic ending. Its almost after Maddy's Alaipayuthey that I felt am sunk into the love story that I couldnot allow myself in deep shock and tears during the tragic twists of the story.The story when it moved to the US , and the romantic scenes with surya nd sameera made me stand up and clap for the picturisation and editing. The second half was a bolt out of the blue for me with story taking serious twists but for a normal love story.Eventhough it was a slow and serious second half , I think it was awell suited as the film emphasised on "Life must go On" philosophy.The music was typical Harris's with Mundhinam Parthaney and Nenjukul Peidhidum being my favorites. Overall Just as how Surya responded seeing Sameera in the film ,"VA just blew me of my feet"
One addendem: In my last blog I mentioned about the pain I faced in the airport due to the cancelling of the flight,But when I saw the news about the US airways flight crashlanding due to emergency into the Hudson River three days back all my agony went away , Fyi, it was the same airport LGA from which I missed the flight, Its the same airways, its the same destination state to which I was going , I felt God is great, Its better to stay whole night at the airport than floating with the aircraft in the Hudson at -20degree C. :)
One addendem: In my last blog I mentioned about the pain I faced in the airport due to the cancelling of the flight,But when I saw the news about the US airways flight crashlanding due to emergency into the Hudson River three days back all my agony went away , Fyi, it was the same airport LGA from which I missed the flight, Its the same airways, its the same destination state to which I was going , I felt God is great, Its better to stay whole night at the airport than floating with the aircraft in the Hudson at -20degree C. :)
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