charukesi September 26th, 2007
Like everyone else, I watched Shah Rukh Khan cheer for the Indian team at SA (later, I also read that he was praying - like everyone else was, said he). And just after that, I read Neha’s post Fair, lovely, handsome and blah!. Reminded me of something I read a long long time ago - Michael Jackson has come full circle, from poor black male to rich white female. That was Michael Jackson, I am not saying anything here about Shah Rukh Khan. Go see any of the pictures floating around of SRK with son at the stadium.
Update - September 27th : and what do I see this morning in Bombay Times? ‘Who’s da king?’ - The undisputed King of Pop and the most successful entertainer of all time according to the Guinness Book of World Records, Michael Jackson, and King Khan Shah Rukh of Bollywood, have more than just the superlative King in common other than being two of the most famous humans walking planet Earth. And if you think we’re talking about Michael’s alabaster skin or his signature moonwalk in rhinestone studded trousers, then just ‘beat it’! It’s the Kings’ hair and aviator styles that’s making for haute conversations despite Team India’s marvellous performance at the T20 World Cup. With photographs of SRK and MJ looking oh so cute, like two sis, brothers… Please go find the link on TOI’s epaper if you have the energy - but let me tell you this - Bombay Time actually had to include this caption below the photographs - WHO’S LOOKING LIKE WHOM? Michael Jackson and (right) Shah Rukh Khan - just in case it wasn’t clear, you see.
charukesi September 26th, 2007
With every year, the number and visibility of sponsors increases. The paints on the idols are brighter, the crowds louder, the competition fiercer, the frenzy scarier… There is something touching about the way the emotions of an entire city (much of it at least) ride the streets along with Ganpati headed to the sea.
The big G!
The family god
On the band-wagon
Back home, Ganesh Chaturti in Chennai was a small mann pillayar - a mud Ganesha fashioned roughly with the hands - and a small idol bought for the occasion - no toxic paints, no chemical processes. And the naivedyam of kozhukattai and sundal as opposed to catered food!
I came across a couple of photographs on flickr that made me all nostalgic… (I am not able to blog directly from flickr for some reason, so am linking to them here) - naivaidya (Shubhangi Athalye) and making of the Ganesha (Chitra Aiyer)
I guess the large garish idols are something I can never get used to - I had written about it earlier in Ganpati rides again. I do wish people go back to a smaller, nicer and eco-friendlier Ganesha. or was that never the way it was in Bombay?
charukesi September 23rd, 2007
My first article to be published - ‘River Town’ appeared today in BRUNCH, the Sunday supplement of Hindustan Times - I had sent it originally as ‘A-punting we go on the Cam’.
Read a-punting we go on the Cam at my travel blog Itchy Feet, published in HT with minor edits. Comments welcome.
You can also read it online in the Hindustan Times epaper (23 September - click on HT Brunch on the left side-bar)
Also see : Cambridge photo gallery here…
charukesi September 22nd, 2007
Bingo - some of the most delightful ads I have seen in recent times. Not just for the sheer enjoyment value but also the fact that the ads do not make the slightest effort to take the brand seriously - if anything, the reverse. And that is so refreshing - some one in the creative team at the agency, and dare I suggest it, even a brand manger or gasp! marketing manager, who realizes the brand is meant to be taken lightly, the product being what it is - fun and completely incidental to the lives and diet of consumers.
A brand that has advertising with absurd situations (consciously and carefully created), that laughs at itself, tongue firmly in cheek. Perfect branding - and focus on what makes Bingo special (I HATE the term USP) - those amazing combinations! “Bingo. No confusion. Great combination.” I first noticed the ad with the potato chips and lal mirch combination - a good product and superb advertising - that rare and unbeatable combination - it is little wonder that in less than six months, Bingo has managed to capture 16% market share, giving Pepsi’s Frito Lays a hard run for tis money. Go Bingo!
***
While on not taking self seriously, the other ad that caught my attention was the Pepsi MyCan ad - the latest one is even more direct - John Abraham points to Shah Rukh and says, uncle - he called you uncle… Uncle manages to pass the title back to John Abraham and all is well in the world of stud-dom. While I didn’t think much of the ad itself (Apu, I agree), it takes a lot of courage to own up to the aging process - especially in an industry that survives on the “self”. I deeply admire Shah Rukh Khan for daring to take on this ad (notwithstading the fact that he looks in the ad like his stylist desperately wanted him to resemble Abhijeet Sawant).
And to this day I can never understand why I like Pepsi as a brand much much more than I do Coke (and I am a confirmed non-cola drinker!) - despite the fact that I think Coke advertising is consistently far superior to anything Pepsi has made in the last few years.
charukesi September 21st, 2007
Orange went pink, and has now turned red. will the dog be now left dead? wonders adformula. Fortunately, so far the little dog has been romping along merrily, only stopping to sniff suspiciously at his now-red kennel before entering it through the small hole in the red. And then the line - Change is good.
I mean, what? Change is good - what kind of change? why is change good? for whom? Does this imply that customers felt a desperate need for change from Hutch? Seems to be presumptuous, what? Reminds me of Philip’s Let’s make things better. Only time can tell how good this change is.
charukesi September 21st, 2007
This happens everyday on the train between Vashi and VT - school kids, none of them over 12 get on to the ladies first class compartment somewhere near Kurla (or Wadala on the way back) - and one or more of the woman start shouting at them to get off - hey, don’t you know this is ladies? first class? (yeah, right - what are boys of 8 and 10 doing with ladies anyway? and what are they doing traveling in first class? gasp!). I watched for a couple of days (very new to the train business having been out of touch for some years, not wanting to get pushed off or something) and then started protesting. What do you lose if they travel for few stations in this coach? Let them stay.
But they don’t have first class passes, pat comes the answer.
So what? Let them travel. What do you lose? (aapka kya jaata hai).
Then this gem - par aap jaante nahi hain - yeh loge chori karte hain (oh you don’ know - these kids steal) - heard more commonly than I would have believed. School kids in uniform, who can hardly stand straight up, their backs bent under the weight of their bags and books and lunch boxes.
Why? Why are people so petty? I know just how much my pass is subsidized by the poor government - why should school kids be made to pay anything at all to travel to school by the local train? And why is it that anyone who cannot actually afford the pass suspect?
charukesi September 18th, 2007
When we went on our holiday, we had no idea it would turn out to be a pilgrimage of sorts… first a too-short day at Amritsar, a few days at Mcleodganj and then a weekend in Delhi, time divided between a hasty visit to the Ganpati temple and a more leisurely hour at Juma Masjid. And we came away surprisingly refreshed, mind more peaceful than it had been just a week ago, from each of these places - not something I ever expect from religion. And then looking at the photographs, I think I saw the reason, faith and not religion. Inward looking, introspective, peaceful and soothing - not violent, agenda-driven, aggressive or loud. Not driven by the idol or the even the physical presence of the place of worship itself but the spirit that seems to envelop everyone inside. (I am not expressing myself well here, but see these photographs to know what I mean…). I could have sat at any of these places for hours on end (and actually did), never wanting to let go of that buzz.
At Amritsar…
At Mcleodganj…
At Juma Masjid…
charukesi September 8th, 2007
Am on a short break (again) - in Amritsar and Dharamshala for a week - will try to blog or upload pics from there. Any recommendations on things to do (very very relaxing, non taxing), places to eat etc welcome.
In the meanwhile, hop over to Itchy Feet for notes on Hampi…
Read about the inverted shadow at the fabulous Virupaksha temple and a rant on
the lonely planetization of travel
charukesi September 7th, 2007
…happens in our house every week or so. My maid takes out the freshly machine-washed note from the washing machine and hands it to me with a sympathetic sigh, I give her an exasperated look (rolling my eyes in the general direction of my husband - who may or may not be in the house at that time - a difficult task that, especially in combination with e.l.) and spread it on the table to dry. And when we get bored of washing currency notes, we drop mobile phones in to the machine with studied casualness. At least, we keep a clean home.
charukesi September 6th, 2007
Ek akela is shahr me…
It is difficult to feel crowded when the entire sea and sky are stretching out in front of you… That is where Bombay finds its space. One of the places. Also… In a book read standing in the super-crowded ladies compartment of the Borivili local in the evening. In fingers tapping to the music from your ipod, all other sounds shut out. In hands held tightly coming out of the movie theatre. In hushed whispers, hurried caresses, in bites from the same bhutta on Worli seaface late in the evening. On the rocks at Bandstand. At Essel World and at Borivili National Park. In the shared pani puri at Juhu. In a dimly lit auto-rickshaw on your way home. In aati kya khandala in the monsoon, in impromptu showers under the waterfalls on the way.
Under the stars at night…
