Finally got to watch the movie -  This is by no means a film critique. Nor I am writing for/against the merit of the movie or whether it is award worthy.

While I am not surprised at the reaction from some Indian filmmakers, couldnt let it go that easily.  Again, this is not about the comments on the quality of the movie in a literary sense. But my reaction to the comments like ‘intentional exploitation of India’ by Priyadarshan.

Fact is Danny Boyle has shown the murky underbelly quite visibly. But then, we should be appreciating the fact that someone did it. Yes, the story itself may not be great; it feels like an old Hindi movie at times; but somewhere there is an element of reality which we’ve rarely seen in any Hindi movies.

Back to Priyan’s comment, he is equally free to make a movie that shows UK/US and its underbelly.  No, Priyan is comfortable sitting back and remaking malayalam movies into Hindi with very minimal changes. Arent you exploiting the talented Mally writers & directors? So, I just dont think the comment about exploitation of India is appropriate.

(BTW, I do thoroughly enjoy & appreciate Priyan’s own original mallu movies..)

For once, cant we just appreciate something? Let us welcome the focus on India. Yes, I very much want it to be good PR and about the bright side, but then there is always two sides to the coin and lets not fool ourselves by covering it up or acting to be ignorant.

Secondly & More importantly, the slum scenes in the movie reminded me of my own experience when I had the chance to see dharavi closely. If the situation is the same today, whatever portrayed in the movie is very true. (Ever since those days, every time I land at the mumbai airport, my heart sinks for a moment. But it is quickly morphed into anger/hatred at the very sight of greedy police & security folks at the gates. )

Made me wonder about the level of charity in our country. In general, there seems to be very little Charity activity in India especially compared to US. And I am talking about relative comparison, not absolute comparison. The perception one builds if you’ve lived in both places is that there is a focused effort and recognition for Charitable causes and spending in US. Here is the list of most charitable countries as a % of GDP, India is no where in the list where as even South Africa has found a spot.

Why is there such low level of Charity activity in India? Of course, it can be just perception and a lot is ‘undocumented’ in India where as it is probably deliberately advertised in US. There was even a comparison somewhere on the charitable cotributions b/w the presidential candidates based on their public tax returns. I can only dream of a day when I can see this in India (both the transparency and the charity)

BigB, even you wrote about the murky underbelly. What have you/the bollywood industry done in all these years for the slum dwellers? Why isnt there a focused activity or campaign or organization after all these years to do something so that the infamous slum in mumbai is done with? Take US and even for the slightest cause, there seems to be a non-profit organization with necessary campaigns, events, activities and a celebrity to support the same.

Maybe I am wrong and there is a very healthy charitable contribution made by India’s rich.If anything, SD movie should make us think & act on these lines. Let us appreciate Danny Boyle & crew atleast for that.

Jai Ho!

Ok – Me too got tagged. I should’ve expected this earlier in blogosphere. So, here we go..

1. I used to be a passionate soccer player in school/college. Even to a degree during my early career days till I got my ligaments torn and the Dr advised to stop playing. I don’t seem to enjoy Cricket that much these days (Sorry Ganesh). I am beginning to enjoy Golfing – wish I could expense it.
2. I learned to bycycle only in late high school. Of course, within an year I migrated to an Enfield Bullet that still remains my favorite bike. I was the only owner of a Bullet in my workplace for almost an year – the security/admin guys knew me very well because of the same.
3. When I got married, had to buy a whole new set of chest/shelf’s since my room was overflowing with books. It still is, but my spouse does a better job of organizing all of them and give away quite a few.
4. One screensaver program I wrote in my college was still running in the computer lab about 8 years later. (I couldnt check if the TSR was still there)
5. Though Eco is one of my favorite writer, I havent managed to read his ‘Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language’ completely despite several attempts.
6. Used to be with a local trekking club in Chennai and have done the Anamudi and Mukurthi. Have also done the Longs Peak along with a handful of other 14ers in CO.
7. I have practiced(for a very short time) the traditional marshal arts of Kerala – Kalariapayattu – I still use some meditation techniques I learnt there which is very similar to Yoga.
8. I learnt Homeopathy on the side for a while and can still do some basic prescriptions. There you have it ! -Sibu

I had the good fortune of listening to Andrew Sobel recently about ‘Clients for Life’ and one of the good traits to have was to be ‘curious’ and ‘ask a lot of questions’. He also joked about how a small kid will have around 100+ questions a day and by the time we are 50, the number of questions is down to 1 or 2 and it is usually – ‘Whats for dinner?’ or something routine. Well, we are all aware of that very well – so I didnt really think about it then. Couple of days back, my daughter (4 yrs) asked me ‘How does the right hand automatically know that it is itching in my left hand and it does the job by itself?’ I was literally thrown off my chair. So, I realized that not only our quantity, but the quality of questions also goes down as we age. Its been ages since I was asked such a great question by someone around my age. Any clues on why/how this happens? More importantly, how can we conciously reverse the same? Can we teach a person to be more curious? I’ll try to do some research myself, but in blogosphere spirit, thought I’ll post it here first. PS: Of Course, I am a super-dad now having answered that tough question.

If you havent come across Jensen Harris’ post already, it is a great read for anyone using software, and a must read for anyone in s/w development. I especially like the concept of MileHigh menus that explains the usability of Mac’s to an extend. I guess the same concept/theory can also be used to explain the usability of the iPod interface. This also means that thick client UI applications will always be inherently easier to use than web applications – unless you somehow lock the mouse within the browser window to make it artificially ‘infinite’. Hope all this will work out great for MS in Office12. Well, it better blow away all expectaions because we all know now that Google is behind.

A while ago, I placed my bets with Microsoft for coming up with Officelive. Well, Google is responding – Cant wait for a subscription to Google Spreadsheets. I am already impressed with their calendar – a quick review of the same can be found here. A well integrated Google Desktop, Notebook, Calendar and other Office tools will definitely pose a siginficant challenge to Microsoft.Note the emphasis on well-integrated which is missing in the popular MS-Office products – I still spend a good amount of time with copy & paste operations. But, I am puzzled with the Google business model. Can a significant number of consumers along with small businesses reach a tipping point to convert the enterprises? As the old chinese proverb says, we do live in interesting times.