Chetan Bhagat v/s 3 idiots team - my take

There are a lot of people wondering whose side they should be taking in the recent spat over the story credits of 3 idiots. Both Chetan and Raju Hirani have their versions of the story.

Raju says, he bought the rights so he can do anything with the story and Chetan says that since the original story is his, he (chetan) should have been given credits as one of the story writers at the beginning of the film.

Having read 5 point someone, I think that the basic plot is similar to the book...the ragging scene, the smoking / drinking on the terrace, the suicide attempt, falling in love with dean's daughter, the definition of machine, the question paper leak, the dean son's suicide and the change of events after he discovers it. These were all taken from the book. So Chetan’s demand is justified.

But Raju Hirani and Abhijat Joshi have taken these and packed them in such an entertaining movie that these seem just 20% of the movie. And I would safely say that the movie is much more entertaining this way. It would be very boring if it was completely based on the book.

All said and done, what I gather is that Chetan has finally got what he wanted. Thanks to the controversy, everyone now knows that HIS book inspired the movie. And thanks to the movie, more people will read the book and Chetan will make some more money as royalty from his publishers.

He didn’t get into IIM Ahemdabad for nothing.

Simply following the will of my heart

Life is not always fair. It pairs some of the most contrasting elements together so seamlessly - Despair and happiness are distributed in such abundance but to different people at different times.

What we have now, may cease to exist someday. What then must we do with it? Consume it to fulfill our materialistic needs or share it (atleast some of it) with the less fortunate ones and earn what no monies in the world can buy – pure bliss of giving.

The smiles on faces of children at Prem Sadan can hardly be forgotten. They were happy not for the food that we took there, they would have had lunch regardless; they were happy because we thought about them, we took time out for them from our (so called) busy schedules. They were excited to be with us, share their aspirations with us and also share the nitty-gritty things that excite them.

The innocence that we had during our childhood has somehow disappeared into the mundane life that we live today. We have become a lot more calculative, shrewd and manipulative, leading us where we think we want to go, but not where our hearts desire to go.

The heart knows no boundaries, no affluence and no poverty. It somehow seeks solace in the simplest of things. And our visit to Prem Sadan helped in discovering this universal truth.

But this was not the beginning, my bent towards pursuing such acts of benevolence were triggered by an unfortunate incident.

I was served a piece of chicken in a pure vegetarian dish at a posh restaurant in south Bombay. Anger took the best of me and I demanded compensation. I didn’t need it. I knew it. But I wanted them to pay for their goof-up. So I passed it on to those who I thought would need it. As compensation, I organized a small treat for the inmates of an old age home. We took them to the restaurant for lunch in 6-7 taxis and tried to make sure they had a good time. The 60 something ladies seldom step out of the home and this was no less an adventure and a picnic for them, and I am sure they liked the change.

Retrospectively, I think this was destined to happen to me. It made me discover the other side of me. Later that month I managed to collect enough funds from friends in office to gift the old age home a new TV set. Someone heard about this and gave me 5000 rupees to be used in a similar fashion. This was indeed used accordinlgy at Prem Sadan.

I have many such plans for them and hope to see these bear fruits this year.

My ideology for all these is simple – Even they deserve to have fun, and why not give it them, in any manner possible. I think it is the fond memories of these small outings that will last more than just food, clothes and money.

If you feel moved by my thoughts, please let me know. If you'd like to join me, you are more than welcome. All it takes is the will of your heart.

Dashera Special - The unpaid Ravan

Watch this Hilarious stand-up act of Jhonny lever. It's an old one you'd say but WTF, watch it agian and enjoy yaar.




Wishing you all a very Happy Dashera

Web 2.0 Demystified

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Hilarious Video on the Indian BPO industry

This was apparently broadcasted on the American National TV, NBC. It has a satarical take on how frustated they are with the companies that outsource to India. 

It also shows how they percieve our country as one that has no traffic rules and people still use carts to travel.
But don't take it seriously, just watch and roll over the floor laughing.

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Hum hindustani

Some people will never listen. See them crossing the railway line even when they are not supposed to.

Accident ho GAYA

I Witnessed this drink and drive incident while my weekend trip to Lashid

My take on CAS

The long wait is finally over and the CAS (Conditional Access System) is ready to be rolled out from 31st Dec 2006 in Mumbai and few other metros. It is said that it will change television viewing experience completely. Thus it lends itself to discussions and evaluations. Lets have a look at what it is.

The Story so far

Let’s have a brief recap of the scheme of events (especially for those who came in late). Till the 1991 era our life was simple and we were content with 2 television channels viz. DD1 and DD Metro. The programs aired on these 2 channels were sufficient for our appetite simply because we had no other option. However thanks to Rupert Murdoch and his Star TV, we got access to various “international” channels with the help of a white cable wire (which later turned into black, much like the cable businessJ).


Later Indian channels like Zee and Sony entered this market. Initially all these channels were free and we paid only Rs. 80 to 100 per month for cable connection. Once our luxury became a necessity, the channel owners’ i.e. the broadcasters started converting free channels into pay channels. The rates were fixed per channel – per subscriber basis. For instance, each household had to pay about Rs. 50 only two sports channels, Star Sports and ESPN. Obviously a household paying Rs. 100 for all the channels would not suddenly start paying 50% more. The cable operators understood this very well. Therefore, they allegedly started under quoting their subscriber base. Thus if an operator serviced 50 homes he would quote only 10 and make payments of pay channels for 10 homes only. The basic calculations were done and the monthly rentals for each of the 50 homes did not increase substantially.


The broadcasters were well aware of this and sometimes even stopped signals of certain channels to some operators. In the bargain the subscriber had to suffer. The broadcaster would have probably priced his channels on a higher side because the number of subscribers was few since they were under quoted by the cable operators. The viewers were not able to select a particular channel as they had to stick whatever package their operators offered. They invariable ended up paying for the channels which they did not want at all.


In short the cable market was highly unorganized and the prices were fixed without any economics. The consumer had to suffer.


What is CAS


CAS – Conditional Access system. It is all set to organize the cable industry and it is also very likely to benefit the consumers.


All the available channels are classified in two types, pay channel and free to air (FTA) channels.

With CAS each household with cable connection has the right to receive at least 30 FTA channels (the number will definitely increase) and it will also have an option of choosing only those pay channels that it wants.
The ceiling of M.R.P for each pay channel is Rs. 5 as per TRAI guidelines. The monthly rental for FTA channels is Rs. 72 plus service tax. To view pay channels the subscriber has to avail a Set top box (STB). Without it he can only view FTA channels.
STB are available under various schemes, starting at a rental of Re. 1 per day.

What to watch out for


I personally feel that CAS will eventually benefit the user because of the following:


One of the hurdles for the success of CAS is the purchase/ rentals of STB. The typical Indian consumer may not want to do that. The broadcasters of pay channels will never want to miss reaching their subscriber, the target base of their advertisers. They are likely to offer their pay channels for free for an initial period of few months.
With CAS the exact number of subscribers of each pay channel can be ascertained, and this will lead to a correction in the channel rates.
The core economics of demand and supply will determine the rates. With the already fierce competition between ZEE, STAR and SONY there will be another price war and like the telecom industry the consumers will benefit.
The STB offer better picture quality than our normal cable input. It has other interactive features too. It makes TV viewing more enjoyable, and interactive. (for more on STB wait for my next feature)

Conclusion

I think the implementation of CAS is very good step taken by our government. We as consumers should take full benefit of this and exploit the opportunity. If possible ask your cable operator to install the STB in your home for a trail period of 15 to 20 days. He is more likely to agree for it. And as they say in the Melody commercial “STB lagwao khud jaan jao”