aditya kumar's weblog

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.

Take notice. Look what the world’s weakest Cricket team is up to.

Barcamp is an event held globally for techie people to join in, talk technology and come up with interesting ideas. Barcamps usually happen at the city level and Barcamp Bangalore, Bangalore’s first ever, is scheduled to be held at Yahoo! Bangalore, on the 22nd of April.

India’s first Barcamp was held in Delhi on the 4th of March. (Many claim that they ‘beat’ Bangalore to it. Well, I just like to think that Barcamp is not a competition.) In fact, I think Delhi’s Barcamp was the first in Asia. (Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong)

The whole idea of an event like this is very interesting. I feel techies usually have some very interesting ideas inside their minds but the channels to let them out are absent. Those ideas die in the usual 10-to-8 job, add to it, the laziness inherited by each one of us. A conference (they actually prefer to call it unconference) like this could be the perfect launching pad for those ideas that could die a slow death inside a lazy geek’s brain.

Another thing that impresses me about Barcamp is that everyone needs to contribute and play a part in the event. One could help organizing it, help by giving a presentation, help someone else who is giving a presentation or could just help arranging for beer. Just can’t be a pure spectator. Everyone is a participant in his/her own way.

Though the event is open for anyone and everyone, the seats are limited and are available at first-come-first-serve basis. Bangalore’s Barcamp has a capacity for 100 campers and as expected, it’s all full. (I am camper #39 :)

Of course, I will be covering the event, making notes and posting them here :)

Links:
Barcamp Bangalore
Barcamp Delhi
Wikipedia on Barcamp

I am in Goa to watch India play England in the 3rd ODI. As the airport is a stone’s throw from where I live in Goa, I thought it made more sense to get into the arrivals lounge and try to meet our cricketers.

And meet I did. First came Chappell. Then Sehwag (No matter how much he advertises for Reliance CDMA, he uses Airtel) To follow him, Kaif, Munaf Patel, Piyush Chawla, Dravid, Gambhir, RP Singh and Agarkar. Yes, I talked with a few, clicked a lot of photographs, took a *lot* of autographs. One thing I would like to mention though, Dravid is a class apart. I mean, there is certainly an air of calmness he carries around with him. Totally composed. And he is very generous, did not refuse anyone an autograph. Maybe it was his way to thank his fans for where he is today.

Then of course, came the Englishmen or the ‘poms’ as many call them. Freddie Flintoff is tall and expects people to stay away. Pietersen could almost pass as an Irish rock star. Anderson is smart and Hoggard seems like he has just woken up from a tight sleep and/or is drunk. But unlike their Indian counterparts, they did not oblige us. They sat their in the lounge for a longer duration of time, yet preferred to stay away. But it’s understandable. Afterall they have won the ashes. (If you think success has gone to their head, umm..too late)

Pictures soon!

Here it is, the testimonial of my travelling and some experiences during the past year and a half in Bangalore!

I must mention here, a couple of pictures have not been taken by me. I wish to thank those who have let these photos be a part of my diary of experiences. They know who they are.

It was wonderful to witness the following images ‘in real’. Capturing these pictures was a magnificent experience. Every single one of them.

Travelling through Maharashtra


The puppy in Kasauli


Out there in Andhra


Above the clouds: Mahabaleshwar


More Mahabaleshwar


The Church in Goa


The Blessing of Pondicherry!


Bullet the Blue Sky: SuryaKirans in formation: AeroIndia Bangalore 2005


Colouring the sky with the tricolor: SuryaKirans in formation: AeroIndia Bangalore 2005


Blending Colors: India versus Pakistan, March 2005, Bangalore


And the best: To have the honour of photographing the Little Master!

Travelling alone makes you think, lets you introspect yourself and in most cases gives hope. So does good literature. That is why, I think, this is a brilliant idea.

Excerpts from this very touching article at Cricinfo. The link is all over it:

Tendulkar looked briefly like he was on the road to redemption. He wasn’t supposed to get out to a 37-year-old, balding off-spinner, nicknamed Shaggy, with a Test bowling average of 92.

And some more:

This series has changed all that. Tendulkar has been human. And to the followers of English cricket, pretty much for the first time.

Tendulkar, caught Bell, bowled Udal. Who would have thought? But there it is, in the scorebook. Forever.