Sometimes I complain to my wife that I wanted the kande-pohe route of marriage and I missed it. Kande-Pohe used to be the quintessential 'arranged' marriage dish of Maharashtrians for those pre marital family meetings. I am not sure if that dish has been replaced by something else today. Nevertheless the cultural significance of Kande-Pohe cannot be denied as far as Marathi "meeting of the minds" is concerned. Never mind.
Shaadi.com exploded on the sub continent scene post Y2K and we entered the dot com era of Indian marriages. Whether Shaadi.com has effectively shut down all the mom-and-pop local marriage bureaus of India, I am not sure. For now I am willing to bet, they co-exist. The local neighborhood marriage bureaus I would assume are still in business. And in some cases still flourishing.
It may be argued that in anyone's life, the decision of choosing a life partner is the single most significant moment of the lifetime. No one would ever take the plunge, I believe, thinking, "Ah, what the heck, let me give it a shot and try out"; unless of course you are a Liz Taylor or a Rekha.
99% of the people who get married, would take it as a given, that this would be their only marriage. And thus, there is that extra pressure I think on both the potential bride and the potential groom to get the decision of choosing life partner right in first shot. Their decision can have far reaching impact not only on their own lives but others related to them.
So here's my question, have websites like Shaadi.com, BharatMatrimonial.com helped this generation ease that pressure? Or have these sites only added more to it? The jury is still out.
Shaadi.com is a perfect example of Technology mixing with Culture. I have never used the site, but I am presuming, this site will help you with informed decision making process. Because everything is out there. The height,weight,complexion, caste, sub-caste, gotra, even salary details in some cases, family background, interests and hobbies, and what have you. All this information overload; is it good or bad? Does it help to come to a decision?
Clearly I am over simplifying due to lack of experience and first hand knowledge about the usage of these sites. But I am curious to know how Shaadi.com became the sixth most important brand in India? How Anupam Mittal became a muti-millionaire with a singularly brilliant idea? Surely, something clicked. Surely many people are using it and surely there have been success stories at Shaadi.com
For any website, whether B2B or B2C or not, the CONVERSION rate is what guides the revenues. More than how many clicks and eyeballs the site gets, it's how many people actually stayed on and continued with the "final transaction" with the site is what counts. In case of sites like Shaadi.com that 'final transaction' would mean, marriage itself.
There should be a follow up question too? Has Shaadi.com helped the process of getting two people closer fast; and have the divorce rates increased too? Or the increase of divorce rates totally unrelated to Shaadi.com phenomenon? I don't know. These are one too many questions.
Marriage is a big deal, anywhere in the world and more so in sub continent cultures. It's an enormously large industry. And Anupam Mittal just tapped into part of that billion dollar mountain. It's clear he was successful. It's also clear that the new IT savvy generation that has many avenues to "connect" with their future spouses, may it be orkut.com or facebook or just plain emailing, have Shaadi.com to fall back on if nothing else works.
I am willing to bet that the future of cyber marriages is bright :) So ending on a happy note for all the future websites including .... marwarimarriage.com, punjabimarraige.com, kokanasthmarriage.com...
Who knows, if people start "specialising" this huge market in future. ;-)
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Garfield
My favorite Cartoon comic strip just completed 30 "mundane" years. Garfield has remained lazy, rude and obnoxious little fatso all along. And I simply love him.
It will be interesting to see, how my little hero fares in the post-Internet age. Will he remain more of the same? Lazy and arrogant? Take a guess ...
[Image courtesy : http://www.arcamax.com/garfield/ ]
It will be interesting to see, how my little hero fares in the post-Internet age. Will he remain more of the same? Lazy and arrogant? Take a guess ...
[Image courtesy : http://www.arcamax.com/garfield/ ]
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Summers
Coming from central part of India, you'd think I hate summers. It's the exact opposite. Summer was my favorite season. Well may be because of the vacation, but who's counting.
Summers remind me of....
- Cut golden mango slices at lunch
- Sleeping on floor with the dessert cooler on and the room darkened.
(This afternoon slumber is like *deep*)
- Sleeping on terrace at night. (And refusing to go inside when it rains)
- Mom's new fresh loncha (Raw Mango Pickle)
- Playing T.T on dinning table with cover of school notebook acting as Bat.(Disturbing others)
- Sugarcane juice in evenings
- Dinshaw's ice cream post Dinner.
- Playing cricket, morning and evening one session.
- Going to Father's native village
- Going to forest park nearby for a couple of days.
- Watching movies on a VCR.
Summers remind me of....
- Cut golden mango slices at lunch
- Sleeping on floor with the dessert cooler on and the room darkened.
(This afternoon slumber is like *deep*)
- Sleeping on terrace at night. (And refusing to go inside when it rains)
- Mom's new fresh loncha (Raw Mango Pickle)
- Playing T.T on dinning table with cover of school notebook acting as Bat.(Disturbing others)
- Sugarcane juice in evenings
- Dinshaw's ice cream post Dinner.
- Playing cricket, morning and evening one session.
- Going to Father's native village
- Going to forest park nearby for a couple of days.
- Watching movies on a VCR.
Airports in India
Caveat : I plan to be a little whiny today. So spare me those.. you know what.. whatever ;-)
***********
My last two visit to India were official trips. As in, my company asked me to visit Cochin, where we had outsourced some work. On both occasions I took a brief vacation to visit my home town of Nagpur in central India.
I so desperately wanted to use train as means of transport (Train is still my fav means). But it turned out, that Cochin and Nagpur are light years away as far as Railway connection is concerned. The shortest time via train would have been 36 hrs !!! I had little choice but to keep flying between cities. And so I did.
But even that wasn't as easy as it seems. The most convenient flight connection was via Mumbai. And between transition time and connecting flights I spent like 12 hours to reach Nagpur. So much for the "super connectivity". On one occasion I missed my connecting flight thanks to the mind numbing efficiency of Air India, and had to spend the whole freaking day in Mumbai, waiting for the next evening flight to Ngp. Luckily my Aunt stays in Santacruz(W) so it wasn't that bad as I din't have to spend whole day, looking frozen at Airport.
During this time, I started observing the Airports there. Specially Mumbai Airport, since that was my most used one. And that's where I spent most of my time either reading Times of India or nibbling fingers and observing the system at work. To be fair to Mumbai, it's airport is much better than Delhi airport. I am talking domestic. I had a particularly embarrassing experience at Delhi domestic airport with my American boss by my side in the first visit. But that I will take for another day.
So Mumbai Airport is chaotic in a way, but still it seems to be working fine. One of my biggest problems with Airports in India is the constant and loud announcements. The NOISE. And Mumbai is no different. The announcements are many folds. There are flight arrival announcements and flight departure announcements. Then there are those "personalized service" announcements. Like ... "Last and final call for Mr. Gupta. Your flight to Baroda is departing from gate # 6 in 10 mins.." or something like that.
I was like, what the heck! Who is Gupta and why do I care? Why is this for public consumption?
And the announcements are not crisp and easy. They are done in two languages, Hindi and English, and are inefficiently long. Like if i had to write those announcements, I would have converted them into words instead of sentences. Actually I would ban those announcements, but*if* they were still mandatory in Indian system, I would turn them simple and easy to pick.
Like "Flight K26 to Nagpur is leaving in 10 mins from Gate 7". That's it. This announcement is clear enough. Anyone who cares to be on this flight, will figure out that s/he has to make it to gate 7, and throw that samosa plate in dustbin and run. There's no need to say, ..." And passengers are requested to please come with their boarding passes to Gate ..... or This is the last and final call.... " (God, I hate those LAST and FINAL calls.. announced ad nauseum)
The onus should be on the passenger to reach the gate, and not on the Airport authorities to "take the passenger to the gate" or spoon feed him/her. If the Arrival/Departure Schedule is not clear enough or not giving information when the passenger enters airport, there should be more charts put at convenient locations so that it's easier for passengers to figure. Why this excess spoon feeding and noise pollution? This is so MANUAL. This is so 1990s if not 80s.
The other thing that bugged me about the Airport was the number of times I had to display my boarding pass. I counted. It was SEVEN times. Yes, the number 7. As in the one that comes after 6 and before 8. WTF !!!! And it took me a while to adjust to that ticket-checking-obsession of the Airports. I kept forgetting I need to show it again at some "milestone" during my 'journey' from agent counter to the gate, and kept putting my pass back in my carrier bag. And everytime I had to take it out from the bag. It was clumsy. In some cases the checkers actually thought it was my first flight experience as I was being so naive.
After 2 major fights with Airport authorities on two occasions, one missed flight, 128 loud and noisy announcements, one missed baggage, and two dropped samosas, I have now gained some Indian Airport wisdom. I have figured that like anything else in India, the airport system is chaotic yet working in some very Indian way. And happily so. And I figured that India will embrace these modern systems of the world, as Airports camouflage more and more with the India's travelling needs, and Indianise them it in it's own peculiar way.
For all my cribbing about the Airport though, I have to add this. The Indian domestic airline service beats the American one, by 1000 miles at least. It's royal. It's regal. It makes you feel comfortable and wanted. And allows you to forget about the chaos easily. It let's you slip in back into the easy mode. I would rank Kingfisher and Jet higher than any airlines I have travelled, internationally and domestically.
On one occasion as the Jet flight took off to Nagpur, one of the stewardess addressed me by my last name and asked if I wanted something? I was like, boy, this is awesome. Last name basis service, now that's a first!
***********
My last two visit to India were official trips. As in, my company asked me to visit Cochin, where we had outsourced some work. On both occasions I took a brief vacation to visit my home town of Nagpur in central India.
I so desperately wanted to use train as means of transport (Train is still my fav means). But it turned out, that Cochin and Nagpur are light years away as far as Railway connection is concerned. The shortest time via train would have been 36 hrs !!! I had little choice but to keep flying between cities. And so I did.
But even that wasn't as easy as it seems. The most convenient flight connection was via Mumbai. And between transition time and connecting flights I spent like 12 hours to reach Nagpur. So much for the "super connectivity". On one occasion I missed my connecting flight thanks to the mind numbing efficiency of Air India, and had to spend the whole freaking day in Mumbai, waiting for the next evening flight to Ngp. Luckily my Aunt stays in Santacruz(W) so it wasn't that bad as I din't have to spend whole day, looking frozen at Airport.
During this time, I started observing the Airports there. Specially Mumbai Airport, since that was my most used one. And that's where I spent most of my time either reading Times of India or nibbling fingers and observing the system at work. To be fair to Mumbai, it's airport is much better than Delhi airport. I am talking domestic. I had a particularly embarrassing experience at Delhi domestic airport with my American boss by my side in the first visit. But that I will take for another day.
So Mumbai Airport is chaotic in a way, but still it seems to be working fine. One of my biggest problems with Airports in India is the constant and loud announcements. The NOISE. And Mumbai is no different. The announcements are many folds. There are flight arrival announcements and flight departure announcements. Then there are those "personalized service" announcements. Like ... "Last and final call for Mr. Gupta. Your flight to Baroda is departing from gate # 6 in 10 mins.." or something like that.
I was like, what the heck! Who is Gupta and why do I care? Why is this for public consumption?
And the announcements are not crisp and easy. They are done in two languages, Hindi and English, and are inefficiently long. Like if i had to write those announcements, I would have converted them into words instead of sentences. Actually I would ban those announcements, but*if* they were still mandatory in Indian system, I would turn them simple and easy to pick.
Like "Flight K26 to Nagpur is leaving in 10 mins from Gate 7". That's it. This announcement is clear enough. Anyone who cares to be on this flight, will figure out that s/he has to make it to gate 7, and throw that samosa plate in dustbin and run. There's no need to say, ..." And passengers are requested to please come with their boarding passes to Gate ..... or This is the last and final call.... " (God, I hate those LAST and FINAL calls.. announced ad nauseum)
The onus should be on the passenger to reach the gate, and not on the Airport authorities to "take the passenger to the gate" or spoon feed him/her. If the Arrival/Departure Schedule is not clear enough or not giving information when the passenger enters airport, there should be more charts put at convenient locations so that it's easier for passengers to figure. Why this excess spoon feeding and noise pollution? This is so MANUAL. This is so 1990s if not 80s.
The other thing that bugged me about the Airport was the number of times I had to display my boarding pass. I counted. It was SEVEN times. Yes, the number 7. As in the one that comes after 6 and before 8. WTF !!!! And it took me a while to adjust to that ticket-checking-obsession of the Airports. I kept forgetting I need to show it again at some "milestone" during my 'journey' from agent counter to the gate, and kept putting my pass back in my carrier bag. And everytime I had to take it out from the bag. It was clumsy. In some cases the checkers actually thought it was my first flight experience as I was being so naive.
After 2 major fights with Airport authorities on two occasions, one missed flight, 128 loud and noisy announcements, one missed baggage, and two dropped samosas, I have now gained some Indian Airport wisdom. I have figured that like anything else in India, the airport system is chaotic yet working in some very Indian way. And happily so. And I figured that India will embrace these modern systems of the world, as Airports camouflage more and more with the India's travelling needs, and Indianise them it in it's own peculiar way.
For all my cribbing about the Airport though, I have to add this. The Indian domestic airline service beats the American one, by 1000 miles at least. It's royal. It's regal. It makes you feel comfortable and wanted. And allows you to forget about the chaos easily. It let's you slip in back into the easy mode. I would rank Kingfisher and Jet higher than any airlines I have travelled, internationally and domestically.
On one occasion as the Jet flight took off to Nagpur, one of the stewardess addressed me by my last name and asked if I wanted something? I was like, boy, this is awesome. Last name basis service, now that's a first!
Friday, June 27, 2008
Mission Sonia : Destroy IITs
I am still not sure why this government is hell bent on destroying the brand-IIT
Beats me.
Beats me.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Fallen Hero
Like any other guy from my generation, I was a huge Amitabh Bachchan fan. A big big fan. So much so that during my hostel life I was actually in forefront of forming a Bachchan fan club (It never really materialized, but the will was there)
When we got a VCR at home in India, I would get only Amitabh movies from the video cassette library. Trishul, Satte pe Satta, Sharabi, Deewar, AAA .... I would be deeply influenced and affected by Bachchan's persona. I even watched a Mard and a Coolie for crying out loud. So much for my being a loyal fan.
He was truly a great entertainer of his time. And his reign was probably the longest ever as the numero uno of Bollywood. India-Today once carried him on the cover page of their fortnightly with the title - 'One Man Industry'. Nothing defined him better. He *was* an industry onto himself, without a doubt.
So why do I keep saying "was"? Am I not his fan anymore? Is he not a brand, an Industry onto himself even today?
Let me put it this way. When you put someone on a pedestal and hero-worship him, you unfairly raise the bar "for him" in your sub conscious. You expect him to be more than just a normal man. You expect him to be in some ways "super" human. And I know that is unfair. But what can I do? I am normal routine human guy, so stop bombarding me with those looks of yours.
I think somewhere around late 90s my Bachchan-mania started receding. It started dwindling. Not because he was getting old or anything. Also not because his ABCL mis-adventure had destroyed him financially. It was something else.
It was because Amitabh Bachchan was not being Amitabh Bachchan. He was trying to be "too" humble, "too" down to earth, showing "too much" vulnerability. At times his 'trying too hard' came out as phony. Somewhere it did not connect. He did not need to be so low and show it. My hero was playing second fiddle to the Govindas and the SRKs of the day. And the fan in me probably could not take it.
Dilip Kumar at the age of 60+ played the protagonist in the movie Shakti right when Amitabh's career was at its peak. He even won the Best Actor's award for Shakti. (Note : not best supporting actor. But best actor). He maintained his dignified superiority even when it was not *his* era. I am no big fan of that oldie goldie Kumar. But I have to grant this. He was able to keep that aura alive. He did not let his fan down. You expect your hero to live and die like one.
Even if Bachchan had turned a pauper, it was OK with all his fans. He should have maintained that upper crest, even if it came out as arrogance. Sometimes arrogance is not all that bad. He became financially insecure alright. But again, did he have to show it? By signing movies and ads left, right and center? By being so insecure about his "visibility" in main stream mind space that he would become a regular on TV like J.V Raman was during the Doordarshan days.
When your hero shows vulnerability and insecurity, he seizes to be a hero. He is not your guy. It is strange, how the fan in you refuses to see that vulnerability and insecurity as normal human conditions. And I know it sounds weird and unfair. But who said life was fair?
I think the final nail in coffin for me as a fan came when I saw Mr. Bachchan constantly in company of a sickos like Amar Singh. That was pretty much *it* for me. Again, ideally I should decouple his personal life from his on-screen one. But I cannot and could not in his case. Again the fan in me, was being unfair and prejudiced to a certain extent. I was letting Bachchan's personal life over lap in my mind with Bachchan the professional, who at some point respected.
It is strange how what we perceive of a person from his personal life, adds or subtracts so many dimensions from our overall view of his or her professional life. No wonder actors and actresses around the world discovered philanthropy as a very effective means to add to their saleability and brand. (The orphans in Africa never had so good.) The more the actor is seen as "doing good to the society", the more s/he comes out as a 'bigger' star. In case of Bachchan I was not expecting that, as I have argued before.
Slowly but surely his moves, his actions both on and off screen started repelling me. I could not relate to his movie selection, his characters, his going over the top at times, not to mention his constant public appearances and his trying too hard to be 'visible' all the time. In a sense, I lost that respect. The intense Vijay of Deewar and Jay of Sholay, the funny-extraordinaire Arjun Singh of Namak Halal, the understated Azad of Main Azad Hu ... lost me somewhere.
I am sure, he still has a whole lot of fans. Probably more now than he ever did. The Bachchan family brand is alive and kicking. I'd say good for him /them. But as far as I am concerned, my hero has fallen.
When we got a VCR at home in India, I would get only Amitabh movies from the video cassette library. Trishul, Satte pe Satta, Sharabi, Deewar, AAA .... I would be deeply influenced and affected by Bachchan's persona. I even watched a Mard and a Coolie for crying out loud. So much for my being a loyal fan.
He was truly a great entertainer of his time. And his reign was probably the longest ever as the numero uno of Bollywood. India-Today once carried him on the cover page of their fortnightly with the title - 'One Man Industry'. Nothing defined him better. He *was* an industry onto himself, without a doubt.
So why do I keep saying "was"? Am I not his fan anymore? Is he not a brand, an Industry onto himself even today?
Let me put it this way. When you put someone on a pedestal and hero-worship him, you unfairly raise the bar "for him" in your sub conscious. You expect him to be more than just a normal man. You expect him to be in some ways "super" human. And I know that is unfair. But what can I do? I am normal routine human guy, so stop bombarding me with those looks of yours.
I think somewhere around late 90s my Bachchan-mania started receding. It started dwindling. Not because he was getting old or anything. Also not because his ABCL mis-adventure had destroyed him financially. It was something else.
It was because Amitabh Bachchan was not being Amitabh Bachchan. He was trying to be "too" humble, "too" down to earth, showing "too much" vulnerability. At times his 'trying too hard' came out as phony. Somewhere it did not connect. He did not need to be so low and show it. My hero was playing second fiddle to the Govindas and the SRKs of the day. And the fan in me probably could not take it.
Dilip Kumar at the age of 60+ played the protagonist in the movie Shakti right when Amitabh's career was at its peak. He even won the Best Actor's award for Shakti. (Note : not best supporting actor. But best actor). He maintained his dignified superiority even when it was not *his* era. I am no big fan of that oldie goldie Kumar. But I have to grant this. He was able to keep that aura alive. He did not let his fan down. You expect your hero to live and die like one.
Even if Bachchan had turned a pauper, it was OK with all his fans. He should have maintained that upper crest, even if it came out as arrogance. Sometimes arrogance is not all that bad. He became financially insecure alright. But again, did he have to show it? By signing movies and ads left, right and center? By being so insecure about his "visibility" in main stream mind space that he would become a regular on TV like J.V Raman was during the Doordarshan days.
When your hero shows vulnerability and insecurity, he seizes to be a hero. He is not your guy. It is strange, how the fan in you refuses to see that vulnerability and insecurity as normal human conditions. And I know it sounds weird and unfair. But who said life was fair?
I think the final nail in coffin for me as a fan came when I saw Mr. Bachchan constantly in company of a sickos like Amar Singh. That was pretty much *it* for me. Again, ideally I should decouple his personal life from his on-screen one. But I cannot and could not in his case. Again the fan in me, was being unfair and prejudiced to a certain extent. I was letting Bachchan's personal life over lap in my mind with Bachchan the professional, who at some point respected.
It is strange how what we perceive of a person from his personal life, adds or subtracts so many dimensions from our overall view of his or her professional life. No wonder actors and actresses around the world discovered philanthropy as a very effective means to add to their saleability and brand. (The orphans in Africa never had so good.) The more the actor is seen as "doing good to the society", the more s/he comes out as a 'bigger' star. In case of Bachchan I was not expecting that, as I have argued before.
Slowly but surely his moves, his actions both on and off screen started repelling me. I could not relate to his movie selection, his characters, his going over the top at times, not to mention his constant public appearances and his trying too hard to be 'visible' all the time. In a sense, I lost that respect. The intense Vijay of Deewar and Jay of Sholay, the funny-extraordinaire Arjun Singh of Namak Halal, the understated Azad of Main Azad Hu ... lost me somewhere.
I am sure, he still has a whole lot of fans. Probably more now than he ever did. The Bachchan family brand is alive and kicking. I'd say good for him /them. But as far as I am concerned, my hero has fallen.
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