DHAR DHAR

Mr Shah Rukh Khan, the one who has a crater in Moon named after him, has done it again. Though I have not watched his latest film, “My name is Khan”, I have read rave reviews about it and everything it seems, is going his way again.

This post is however not about the quality or the storyline of the film but about something else. It’s about the business side of it. One thing that I have noticed and I am sure everybody else also has, is the amount of controversy this film has generated over the past couple of months. First, there was the row over the US trying to stop SRK from entering that country and second, the recent protests by the unruly Shiv sena in Mumbai regarding some comments SRK made about some Pakistani cricket players. I am not sure whether these events were staged or they were just serendipitous consequences and I am not making any allegations here but if you consider that in both the cases seemingly unrelated situations have been turned on their heads and used for the publicity of the film, the entire big picture comes into scene.

The film, it seems, is tailor made for controversy. Let’s start with the name: My Name is Khan. In a World where every Muslim name is seen with suspicious eyes, this name alone does about half the job. The US, I have heard maintains a secret list containing the names of all those persons who are suspected to be  terrorists and this particular surname of Khan appears most number of times. Now, consider the setting: the 9/11 WTC twin tower aftermath. For the people who have lived through it, which by the way includes almost everybody above the age of 10, the sight of the twin towers falling down is nothing short of a Hollywood disaster movie. Almost all of us know how difficult it has become to travel between countries now – especially the western countries- with all the checking and questioning and profiling going on in the airports. In this mélange, if you throw in the spicy combination of SRK, the gorgeous Kajol and the ‘Koffee with Karan’, then the mathematical equation of

C=-P+S+M

where C = Controversy; P = Publicity; S=Star Power and M=Money

takes a new life of its own.

I have no idea how much impact this movie will have on Bollywood or for that matter even on SRK’s career, but it is a lesson in PR and marketing for any budding management student. Takes your notes, I have!!

Humans are complex and human interaction is even more so. However, when you add cross cultural interaction into this hotch-potch of a situation, this takes the form of mind blowing complexity, which can easily rival a particle physicist’s palette. The various hues and shades of color you get to see when people coming from different cultures assimilate and mix can put any Monet painting to shame.

To tell you the truth, I am totally perplexed by the intricate web of all these interaction games. Especially, the game where the other player is of the opposite sex. Evolutionary psychology tells us that men and women are different in a very basic level – deep down within the core – not only in physical sense but also in every other sense possible. If you look around and start observing everything that is going around you, you can find this to be very true. This apparent truth of nature makes the tricky situation even more trickier when the two players are of opposite sex.

But, I don’t want to talk about that here. I am hurt. I am not sure why though. Whether I have any right to get hurt or not, I have no idea. Confused is a better word for the predicament I am facing. Not knowing what to do and how to proceed is a dilemma which is very difficult to face for a person for whom the whole life seemed all clear just a few months back.

These interaction games that we play with other players build on the each others moves. Somewhere down the line, if you make a wrong one, the entire game goes into a state of hopelessness. In my game with somebody, somewhere I did play a bad move and  the game shifted its head towards doom. The sad part is that I have no clue where I went wrong. The rules of the game are so damn complex that they don’t even allow me to ask the fellow player about the mistake that I did. If I do that, it will be a sign of weakness on my part. It will be a sign of defeat.

Everybody, I am pretty sure, knows what I am talking about. Everything, though apparently explained in a bad disguise is pretty clearly spelt out. I just want to know, where did I go wrong? Why is the other player behaving the way that is so confusing? What is this? Where is this heading?…

Every Thursday evening after everybody is gone, about 10 people meet at room G208 in 20, Kingsway Building at the LSE. Their purpose – secret. Their deeds – hidden. The room – small and the blinds- covered.

What do they do there? What is the secret?

These are the torch bearers of an ancient and continuing sect, one whose legacy goes back to time immemorial, the life form appreciators or in simple words – the artists.

These people meet for the weekly Life Drawing sessions conducted by the LSE Student Union Visual Art Society. The society arranges for the models and other supplies for the sessions and people – LSE as well as non-LSE – join in for 2 hours of sketching extravaganza.

I recently went to one such session and the result is this sketch of the female body. Though we did about 5 sketch from various different perspectives, this is the one which I liked the most.

So, here it is, the nameless sketch.

Female Form

and coming to the title of the post, “The secret sessions”. Well, there is actually nothing secret about the entire business. If you want to attend one such session and want more information or check out the timings, then visit http://www.lse-arts.com/. The website is well maintained and has all the necessary information.

So, see you there.

Ok, this, by far has to be the most taxing week in all my time till now at the LSE. I have a whole host of things laid out in front of me and I am not sure whether I have enough time to complete everything…

Rest for some other day.

@FutureMe: When you see this post in the future, reflect back and think about what an awesomely busy week it has been. See you then…

It has been a while since I posted anything related to art. So, here I am today with my latest creation, “Expectation”. Pregnancy is probably the most beautiful time in a woman’s life. If you reflect for a second, they bring a new person into this World. A person like you and me, of flesh and bone, having feelings and senses, how wonderful is all of that. Let us celebrate the miracle of birth with this charcoal on Fine Grain – Heavyweight paper drawing…

Expectation

You can’t look at the Sun or a bulb or a very bright star directly. It will burn you eyes for sure. An almost similar thing happened last night. The stars of Indian Politics and Industry lined up together at the LSE for the launch of the book, “Not by Reason Alone” by Nand Kishore Singh and their collective brilliance was enough to blind my vision and overwhelm my senses.

In attendance were Dr Montek Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Government of India; Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries; Shobhana Bhartia, Chairperson and Editorial Director, the Hindustan Times group; Professor Lord Meghnad Desai, Professor Emeritus of Economics, LSE; Barkha Dutt; Group Editor-English News, NDTV; Shekhar Gupta, Editor-in-Chief, The Indian Express; Ed Luce, Washington Bureau Chief, Financial Times; Lord Patten, Chancellor, University of Oxford; Nand Kishore Singh, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha; Professor Lord Stern, IG Patel Professor of Economics, LSE; Nita Ambani, Chairman, Dhirubhai Ambani Foundation; Naresh Goyal, Chairman, Jet Airways; Praful Patel, Minister of Aviation, Government of India and many more.

I guess, this is the indirect advantage of studying at a very prestigious university, you get to see and experience this for free. Next month, Amartya Sen in conversation with Vikram Seth. Kill me… this is unbearable.

Crater S R Khan

Bollywood is big, no doubt about that and its superstars are even bigger. Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan and, Shahrukh Khan are nothing short of steller super-humans in the Bollywood community. People revere them and there are incidents of fans building shrines as a tribute to them. However, in the race among these actors about who the bigger star is, Shahrukh Khan has proved who the “King of Bollywood” is. He has become the first Indian actor to reach the Moon.

The International Lunar Geographic Society has named a 7km diameter crater, located at 3.4° North (latitude) and 20.8° East (longitude) on the Earthside of the Moon, in the Arago Crater Group, after the actor. The crater, which was originally known as Arago B was renamed S R Khan crater on the 2nd of November 2009.

Personally, I believe SRK doesn’t deserve this crater. Even if you only think about Indian cinema, there are people who are more deserving than King Khan. Amitabh Bachchan, Lata Mangeshkar instantly come to mind when you think about it. The father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi and other great leaders and visionaries such as APJ Abdul Kalam have contributed much more than what SRK has done in his lifetime.

The only thing going for SRK has been his massive fan following, who petitioned the Society in huge numbers to name this crater for him. I understand why Mahatma Gandhi and APJ Abdul Kalam are loosing out. But what about Amitabh Bachchan? His fan following is comparable to SRK’s. Why is he  not getting a crater named after him.

Indians are a funny bunch of people. I am pretty sure that after this incident, Big B’s,  Aamir Khan’s and Sallu baba’s fans have now gone on a Red Bull induced hyperdrive to name even bigger craters after their respective idols. Soon, we will have  Crater A Bachchan, Crater A Khan and so forth… I dread the day when Crater M Sherawat and Crater R Sawant start existing. Craters, cracks and cleavages… What an amazing combination… !!

International Lunar Geographic Society… bad move, buddy!! Here, we come, the Indians…PPSGMN4V2HEC

Image Courtesy : http://www.lunargeographic.org/srkhan/index.shtml

The recent decision by the Human Resource Ministry of the Government of India to de-recognise 44 “Deemed to be” Universities came as a shock for everyone, let alone the 200,000 students directly affected by it.

Most of these now ‘doomed’ universities are run by private business men and politicians like money making machines rather than educational institutions.  However, so as not to jeopardize the lives of the affected students, the government has allowed to institutes to revert back to their pre- deemed university status as affiliate colleges of the respective state universities.

In my opinion, the government is on the right track in its goal of educational reforms in India. During Arjun Singh’s tenure as the HRD minister, the deemed university status was virtually up for grabs with anybody having sufficient cash and connections able to acquire one for his/her institution.

However, I find this entire procedure of granting the deemed university status somewhat flawed and useless. Instead of doling out this half baked status the Government should start using mandatory and very strict accredition process and grant those institutions that are fit to be one, full university status.

Many of these institutions face severe shortages of faculty. India produces 300,000 engineers and many more science graduates each year. Most of these people go to the private sector in hopes of earning huge salaries and having a secured life there after. The incentives are the huge pay packages here. Educational institutions also should start paying out salaries equivalent to the private sector to attract the best of the lot. However  noble and satisfying the job of teaching may be, those days where the school teacher used to teach for peanuts has long gone. In today’s world, money matters.

Another important factor plaguing Indian education system is the lack of research in relevant and cutting edge topics. Even the IITs and IIMs have a tough time in getting their hold in the international research arena. Due to some unexplained reason, Indian universities always fall into “teaching universities” syndrome as distinct from the “research universities” such as Harvard or LSE or MIT.  To attract the best minds, money along with research infrastructure is important…

The HRD Ministry has taken a small but right step in the proper direction… However, It has still a long way to g … Keep marching…

18th January 2010, 2016 hrs: It has been exactly 128 days, 12hours, 30 minutes and 55 seconds since I arrived in the UK or to be more specific 4 months, 6 days, 12 hours, 30 minutes and 55 seconds.

[Continuing further I have been here for the last 18 weeks, or the last 3084 hours, or the last 185,070 minutes, or finally the last 11,104,255 seconds.]

When I first came here, I was distinctly Indian in everything I did – from the way I acted to the manner in which I spoke. Although I am still that same Indian guy I was before, things have changed and I can feel that deep down inside.  Many things that would have astonished me before are now routine.  This is maybe all part of the “adapting to a new place and culture game” but it is brutal. Culture is such a big part of who we are and what we do that when you have to rip it apart to belong to some group and to conform, it hurts. But, that is what life is all about – adjustments. What we are today are the manifestation of years of evolutionary adjustments made by our forefathers. These small adjustments – made one at a time-  shaped our culture, our traditions, our beliefs and values. I am making some more now to tweak my existing one to fit into a new one. I hope this adjustments phase passes soon.

Among other things, I will officially be a Non Resident Indian (NRI) in about 52 days from today. The Government of India defines an NRI as someone who has been out of the country for more than 180 days in a year. When I was in India, I used to wander what it would be like to be one. Now, that I am officially on the brink of becoming one, I must admit it feels nothing. You get trapped in your silly, miserable life and never realize how all that time has passed by.  I am pretty sure I will never be able to tell when the 52 days threshold arrives. It will come and pass by as any other day and that will be it.  I will be another Non Resident Indian in a distant land with hopes and dreams of a better life.  A life, I will have no one to share with…

Should scientists care about the consequesces of their studies or should they pursue the truth relentlessly without evaluating the impact that it might have on the society?

Logically thinking, truth alone should triumph. Everything else is an illusion. The scientist should impartially seek the truth and strive to achieve  it at all cost. She should not care a dime about what the society thinks of it or whether a dim-wit takes her findings and creates an nuclear weapon out of it.

However, unlike scientists from the basic sciences, social scientists work in the society, amongst the people and as such they need to live by the rules and regulations of the society.  They should be wary about the potential risks of controversial research. They should be mindful of the killer lurking in the dark alleys of the society. Before unearthing the evils, they should seek out the angels for protection.

The sentiments expressed in the above paragraph are true and most social scientists are plagued by them constantly. This creates the problem of ‘decked-up lie’ or ‘covered-up truth’ where the scientist holds back from presenting all the findings of the research and thus create additional road blocks for already stifled science of social studies.