Adrenalin, Cheer Girls, IPL and All that is Not Cricket..

As we knew it !

Cricket was designed as a game to engage and entertain the families of the elite bureaucrats of the former British Empire. It survived Two World Wars (so what ?) and flourished in some of the former English colonies. Despite having a 200 years of legacy, decent money and glamour (till 2008) and yet only handful of countries decided to take it seriously. Going by shear numbers its safe to assume that almost 20% of the world population simply loves this game, and its considered not second to religion. But to put the numbers in perspective only 8 teams (countries) have been playing it consistently, seriously for more then 20 years now.

And then 2008 happened ! Yes, it survived the two world wars but not the year 2008.

Kim Raikkonen tops the charts of all time highest paid sportsperson per game ($2.94M/ game), whereas Alex Rodriguez tops the list for signing the world's largest sports contract ($275M contract for a period of 10 years) to date.

The most respected, successful of the football, baseball, basketball players play for around 30-60 minutes in a game, few games in a season and make millions. But, and this one will be a big but, mind you, what if they are asked to play the full game and all the games and all the series and tournaments possible in a year?

Remember the age old adage, Goose that Lays the Golden Egg ! So lets kill that goose and take out all the eggs at a time. Perhaps a 8 years old will tell us that the Goose the will die, but we grown ups have grown past the wisdom of age old adage, especially the ones sitting in cricketing councils, the die-hard fans and the business savvy czars and tycoons !

Usain Bolt can do a 100 in 9.58 (10.43841/sec) seconds but Patrick Makau could do a 42195 in 7418 seconds (5.688191/sec), so does that mean Bolt can run a marathon in half the time of current world record, if he wants to ? All the forms of sports have understood that its one thing to cross English channel and its totally different to swim a 50 mtr breast stroke. I hope as the cricket spreads it reach to more continents, as more and more league culture develop sponsors and board members will focus on nurturing and appointing three sets of specialists for the three prevalent forms of the game.

Cricket is a gentlemen's game, so lets not reduce it to a tug of war between the three formats !

No denying the obvious that IPL has added several new dimensions, adrenalin, cheer girls, 10x more money for 10x more players, benefiting the game in general, certainly a good beginning in a right direction.

So lets not kill the goose. We should not expect a cricketer to run a marathon in the fastest possible time and should not procrastinate a marathon runner for not being able to run a mile the fastest. Instead of putting all the monies in the factory which produces cricketers only on the fertile soil of Indian sub-continent, lets try to develop at least 29 good international cricket playing teams, so that I can no longer use my fingers.

Lets raise the ceiling because, there certainly is enough room to generate 10x more money then currently under consideration. IPL has certainly added cheer girls and several powerful aspects to the game, but both the crickets and those powerful people are trying to kill the goose, so as to make all the hay while the sun shines.

Dear Sponsors, Crickets boards, Trust me there will be a tomorrow and the Sun will shine all over again !!

Bollywood's CONfusion is in the AIR !

Please don't sneeze. After reading this post, you might want to take nasal spray to clear the air a bit in a hope to breathe fresh air someday, but let me tell you its futile.

I am lucky because I get some free time in the evenings and over weekends. However ever since I moved to Middle East my movie dose has reduced significantly. It has resulted in a loss of appetite, dry thoughts keep wandering across my minds rapidly accompanied by empty sand storms and a hollow tranquility.

But ya, living in Middle East has lot of advantages, more then I could have imagined. The best one and perhaps most important one is easy access to Indian T.V channels, ya all of them, at the almost same time and pace. After a long time, I decided to create a collage, thanks to the daily dose of Indian TV channels and through them easy and almost free access to most latest of the Bollywood movies.

After creating this collage, I realized that pictures do speak 1000 words. So I can afford to keep this blog post small, like the script and plot of the above Bollywood movies. Call it a coincidence, but I came across most of the above movies and many more, which I cant recall now with same story line, that of confused lovers. These in love people are either too afraid to accept their love or have find love of their life after getting engaged to someone seemingly boring but nice at heart person. Somehow the Music of all these movies has been great, in some of the movies even the performance of the actors under given scope was also good. But as we know our Bollywood Directors and Producers are famous for making the most while the sun shines, so they decided to make the most of this new age, gen Z, confused love bird stories. The big advantage is that the Directors and Producers dont have to spend much on story, sets, editing, costumes or even on the fee and remuneration of actors. The acting by the likes of Imran Khan and Deepika Padukone is so good and repetitious that sometimes I really wish and hope that they get rid of their straight faced confusion soon and can live happily ever after.

Back in 90s our beloved Rajs and Simrans used to invite us with arms wide open to fall in Love and now days we are getting emails with open invitation to fall in the confusion. I am married and so I can afford to remain confused, what about you ? Still searching for the Nasal spray !!

By the way, dear Directors and Producers of such confused character love hate stories, we had enough of these, we got the point, we appreciate the confusion and have full sympathy with your metro-sexual, wannbe successful, untalented, protagonists. Kindly stop making such movies ! Enough of CONfusion!
  

A Career in Sales - What to Expect (And Not too) !!

Yeah I know a bit, but No, I am no expert. Just had the opportunity to sell goods and services to people and organizations. This post is not about how to make or break into sales. Sales mean different things to different people. Below are some of the things which I learnt all the way along. The list is not exhaustive because I haven't exhausted yet :)

Statutory Warning: This post has nothing to do with Grand, 97.895% Sale running on Malls near you.







What TO Expect 

1. Be ready to wait for hours outside your clients office. Humility is what sales teaches you. Beware staying for extended hours at client's office can make you feel like you their employee.

2. Pressure cooker. That's what you will feel about your head from time to time. So devise your own ways to de-steam yourself.

3. Shifting goal posts. Yeah, your target, territory and sometimes even what you are supposed to sell will also change, several times in a year.

4. Thankless people. Everybody from Marketing, Operations to HR to Project Management to Supply Chain will be ready  to take credit for your sales. Some might even go to the extent saying that all our Sales guys are useless, if I (respective department) was not there, they (we the Sales guys) will close this company.

5. Coffee, Cigarette and all that Jazz. You tend to take yourself all too seriously and start filling your lungs and lever with all that Jazz. Beware and dont overdo ways and means suggested in point no.2 above.

6. Baby Sitting. The people around you will always expect you to do a lot more then what you are doing. You might enjoy the late night parties and free booz, in lieu you will be expected to baby sit a lot of grown up babies.

What NOT TO Expect 

1. Don't think that because you are in Sales, you can actually sell everything as they show in movies !!

2. Don't expect that people will respect you immediately, because you are in sales.

3. Don't think that you will start cracking those multi-million dollar deals just because you are dressed like a Hollywood star or a Diva.

4. Yeah, they don't give those big cabins and car keys to you, especially if you are in industrial sales.

5. Don't expect to get big sales commission from the day one because your boss know how to set targets.

6. Don't expect the Techies in your company to respect you, because they worked on a project you won.



PS: You may think that you know everything about sales. But what you don't know is that you know what you don't know.

Bollywood's top 10 Super Hero flicks !

Let me accept my ignorance for I have not seen some of the most fabulous sci-fi, action packed South Indian thrillers. But please don't call me racist for not doing that, no, not at all. I sincerely respect all the industries which generate employment, income, entertainment and provide sense of fulfillment to millions of deprived and self assumedly fulfilled souls.

Most of the Indian mythological books, scriptures are pre loaded with millions of stories, powerful, awesome characters but somehow the responsibility of showcasing all of them has been to the small screen. So I will list some of my favorite Super Hero flicks which depicted the common mango man who acquired extra-ordinary powers, skills and thus entertained us to death !

Long before Under (wear) taker was born and the dogs used the Rock for refreshing purposes, a yamla pagla Jaat knew that there isn't much difference between wrestling and acting. Innocent looks, personality worth 240 lbs and hiccuppulla dialogue delivery, a perfect recipe for Herculean Samsonish stardom.


Tarzan. No, we are not talking about the wonder car here. Unfortunately I never got to watch this movie because I was a reasonably tiny kid to comprehend the difference between curves of Tarzan and his wonder girl. But yes, I bleakly remember this movie became a talk of the town, for some stupid reasons. But I am pretty sure that whatever money this super jungle hero 1986 epic movie made in those times, other Hemant Birje movies would have made all put together.

Hey look, over there, its Shekhar with red blanket flying in the sky. No, its Superman.Yes, you read it correctly. The Duryodhan fame Puneet Issar dared to play the most popular comic super hero of recent times, the Indian version of Clark Kent aka Shekhar in and as Superman. Blame it to conspiracy of the universe or destiny, that none other than Dharam paa ji played the Kryptonic father of Super Shekhar Issar Man ! Quiet interestingly the often forgotten Kimi Katkar played an  instrumental role in two of the top 10 super hero chick flicks of Bollywood.

The first original Indian super hero, the simple guy with a heart of gold, who accidentially discovered his uncle's gadget which could make him disappear, backed by one of the most innovative villainous dil Khush Hua performance of Bollywood ! Mr.India was a true typical masala movie with lot of never seen before Hawa Hawai twists and turns. By 1987 Sridevi was already at her peak and Mr.India gave the Indian film audience a new classy, cheesy, cheeky, lovely and memorable couple on the silver screen. The couple gave several blockbusters in the years to come.


If we the people ever wanted someone to play a super hero avatar it is/was Amitabh Bachhan. He made the middle class angry young man, a new icon of silver screen. Unfortunately Ketan Desai couldn't recreate the magic like his father did in the preceding years. I was a bit confused between Shehenshah and Toofan. The costume and the wig which Amitabh B used in Shehnshah became the talk of the nation. I chose Toofan over Shehenshah because of some reason, I myself am not sure about :)

Nobody except the Big B at the helm of his career would have dared to do it again and again, come whatever may. And that's what sets him apart. In this 1991 multi-starer, big budget, sci-fi, fantasy Mr.Bachhan played the character of Ajooba, the wonder, produced, directed by Kapoor's stable. This flick was co-directed by a Soviet filmaker and hence was dubbed in Russian language as Vozvrashcheniye Bagdadskogo Vora. 

Not everybody was lucky enough to watch the once famous credit card ad, which famously said- there are few things which money can't buy ! UnFortunately not many lesser humans were lucky enough to  watch this movie which simply cant be classified in any one category. Whatever and whoever was available at that point in time was made to available for this suuupperr natural, scii-fii, horror, drama, romantic-comedy - Ek Anokhi Kahani, truly it was on all the parameters. I simply cant afford to disrespect the love of a dad for his son. If  you want to have a bit different kind of ball of an afternoon, do dare to watch this flick, but don't forget to arrange abundant supply of  beverages and company of few good old friends, who share your sense of humor, at least till the movie is being played.

A rare hit sequel of hit prequel. Another classic tale of love, romance and action, without any superficial attempts to delve into any kind of deep rooted philosophy, Krrish, starring Hritik Roshan was an instant hit. The father son magic did work at least with the kids though I sometimes wonder if the movie was made this intention. Call it the magic of K or hard work of Hritik Roshan, this movie established the brand Hritik Roshan and pushed him in the unique ivy league of Bollywood super stars. The rumor had it that after the first K block buster with the son, daddy Roshan planned both the K flicks well in advance. Now that's some planning !!

If daddy, can, why cant I ? But some questions are better left unanswered. Neither the former Miss World Priyanka Chopara nor KK Menon could save Drona, released in 2008. The most expensive movie of his life had it all the special effects, the really wicked crooks and the confusing attire in the middle of desert. Frankly I watched only some parts of Drona randomly, in bits and pieces and I never felt like laughing or having some mild amount of fun. A far too serious movie for my taste, but nevertheless I respect the friendship and love between Goldie Behl and the Jr.B. Goldie Behl was last found hissing around with    

Thank Goodness said the God after watching the latest biggest movie ever made on Indian soil, Robot. Well if Akshay Kumar and Aamir Khan can play college boys at 40+ and if they cant, no-one can even question Rajinikant and can prevent him from romancing with the once poster girl and now queen of Bollywood Aishwarya Rai and Bachhan.  Rajnikanth's next project is the Jurassic Park in Tamil. However, Rajni has twisted the climax. Rajni turns the earth upside down to dust off all the Dinosaurs from the earth and ships them safely in his private jet to Jupiter ....




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Images source - via Google