aditya kumar's weblog

I had read this article on rediff.com a few months back. Please, please read it!

Oh and by the way, this site is soon going to get a makeover.

What does Preity Zinta say on The BBC? She says “India needs some simple things so that it would not remain a third-world country anymore”.

Sometime in first half of the last century, someone in England came up with a term that conveniently described all the undeveloped countries. It summarised the poverty, the illiteracy, the inhumane conditions and all the bad things the west can think about into this new word and a makeshift new world, it was called “The Third World”.

Our leaders chose to call it “Developing Countries”. That’s a term less harsh, but that is it.

I don’t believe in this “Third World” concept. I think it was very convenient for some. It still is. But I like to think that there is no “Second” or “Third” world.

There is only one World.

Till the time this word is used in the context mentioned above, I must say, there remains a truth to be accepted, a reality to be braved and work to be done.

You, me and Preity Zinta stay in the same world. If you accept the existence of The Third World, what is the difference then, between you and the person who invented this term?

Things have to start changing first in the minds of people. People not in the west, but people right here.

This is what happened to Bangalore when veteran actor Rajkumar died.

These pictures came via an email forward.

I am scared of this. I have never seen this face of Bangalore.

I have a friend who has been on the lookout for a boradband Internet connection at home. He stays in the posh Koramangala section of the city. Since my experience with Airtel Broadband had been satisfactory, I suggested him to go for it.

On his behalf, I started corresponding with this person from Airtel who was supposed to take care of the “prospective customers” in the Koramangala Area.

After I sent the request, I was told a “Feasibility study” would be conducted. A few days and a few emails later, I had the “result” of their feasibility study in my inbox. That I could not understand most of their official/telecom lingo was another matter altogether.

When I read the excel sheet which contained their analysis, I had this overall idea that something was wrong and they were not too eager to let me have the connection. Why would that happen? Airtel does exist in Koramangala, it’s the hotspot of the city.

I had misunderstood maybe. So I let the Airtel person tell it to me. Well, the “sub-pillar” was “choked” he told me on email. It meant they had a lot of customers in Koramangala. So many that they could not handle. And then came the bomb: We would request you to go to another Internet provider.

There, I thought. Now, thats provoking. You’ve just given me the ticket to go to your bosses up there, lad. They ought to know, someone down there is actually shooing people away. What’s more, you’d be famous on my blog too.

So this is the email, I had the pleasure of writing.

A few days back I had an email correspondence with one of your ******* managers. I had asked him for a connection in Koramangala, Bangalore. After some days, he had told me about a feasibility report which said that the “Sub-pillar” was choked and also suggested me to go to any other service provider.

I feel sad about the state of affairs in your company since in effect, you are asking me to go to another service provider, i.e, your competitor. It is very unusual for a company to redirect it’s prospective customers to the competition.

As per your advice, I have gone ahead and taken a connection from another service provider, which happens to be Airtel’s competitor in the market. They were more than ready to accept me as a customer.

I hope you realise the effect this could have to your organization.

Thank you,

xxx

Of course, it’s my friend who has gone to another service provider. Me, I have been off-Airtel for the past so many months now. That’s because they don’t provide service in this part of the city. But even if they did, would they provide me a connection? I doubt it.

I am happy that my all-time favorite U2 song is getting accolades even now, a good 15-or-so years after its release.

In fact, “One” is the best song, I have ever listened to.

Now, “One” has been re-released. The song, originally from the album Achtung Baby, has had it’s major re-release in the form of a collaboration between U2 and Mary J Blige. Bono starts the song with his voice and after a few lines lets Mary take over.

Now, let me say, this new version is nothing exceptional and this is not the ‘accolade’ I talked about. It’s this: From the song, this line — “One life, with each other, sisters, brothers”, has been reported Britain’s most adored lyric. The poll was conducted by the music channel, VH1.

Other artists/songs in the top-10 include Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit, Coldplay’s Yellow (I love that song), Robbie William’s Angels and Eminem’s Loose Yourself.

You know who I am missing here? Oasis.

Check all of it, here.

PS: In case you may want to listen to the new released version of this song, just mail me.

More Cricket Controversy.

A 20 minute stay in the mall nearest to my house (and one of the biggest in the city) during the not-so-peak hours reveals how people are accepting the Mall culture. (Also, How I am going about accepting the same.)

Curiosity brings them here. The Advertisement and Marketing department of the respective brand takes care of the rest. Lets talk about the first point, Curiosity.

A few examples here could be a better way to explain this.

A man carries his 5 year old son on his shoulders, gets him an ice-cream cone (From McDonalds) and walks towards the outer boundary of the building and sits there. He has just come out of the mall and he has one rapidly melting ice-cream cone to show for his shopping. In his shirt pocket, he carries the brochure of the Nokia N-Series phone. In the rare moments that the son fails to get his papa’s attention, the papa is busy staring, with wide eyes, the crowd that the mammoth building keeps churning inside.

During almost every visit to the mall, I need to use the escalator. And everytime I see someone struggle trying to use it. They are afraid of putting their feet on this moving carpet of metal. They are overwhelmed by the brands that surround them, all of a sudden, but they keep coming in thousands.

They are afraid but they are curious too. It’s like learning to swim. Because they like it when they survive those little anxious moments.

So this is the face of the changing India. The Big-town and The Small-town India coming to terms with the Great Mall Culture.

Once they get in, the advertisements take control. Have you noticed how every single minute you spend on the street is full of advertisements? Lets go back to the Mall for a moment here. I see a giant Shahrukh Khan asking me to have a Cola. On a huge billboard, a woman tells me to buy this particular brand of Jeans. You can’t just miss the woman, such is the attention her figure demands. You know, I think it’s funny how nowadays they manage to advertise about clothes without letting the models who advertise for it, wear any.

Then, there are on-the-spot saloon-style-haircuts from a shampoo company. One malt product company (no, not beer) wants you to try their new offering in ice-cold milk. A few stalls ahead, a mobile phone, for just Rs.22,000. Just? They would have laughed if a decade back someone had even suggested the idea of selling a phone for this amount. And even if they all got convinced about it, no one would have believed that people would actually buy it. But people are buying it you know.

They take personal loans to buy a phone nowadays.

The feeling I get in the 20 minutes I manage to stay in this very stressful place is that everyone wants my money. Everyone. They want me to come, open my wallet and spend some cash or swipe the plastic. But if I agree to the job, they’ll take everything.

So, I’m backing out.