Destination Infinity's Blog, page 54

The Promotion (Short Story)

 

Sai was ironing his shirt when he realized, in his hurry, he had not picked up the milk packets that morning. He finished ironing and walked swiftly to his front gate to pick them up. He noticed that one gate was slightly open. Probably he had forgotten to lock it on the previous night. Just as he was about to close the gate, he felt a soft furry body touch his legs. As he bent down, his dog, July, run out of the gate.

“July, July come back… “ Sai shouted at the top of his voice to no avail. He knew she was going to the neighboring park to socialize with the street dogs, again. Last time, when she roamed around the park without him, she had developed a bad skin infection. Sai had spent a lot of time for the treatment and he didn’t want to go through it again. He also didn’t have the heart to see his beloved dog with those rashes again.

But Sai had an important meeting with his Chairman and senior colleagues, who had come from Mumbai to Chennai. Among other things, they were going to decide on the post of Branch Manager. There was a stiff contest between him and his rival Megha. If he did not leave home in another five minutes, he would be late for the meeting.

What should he do now? If they were going to appoint Megha, just because he was late for a meeting, he’d rather let it be. July was his only companion ever since his wife died and his son went abroad. He didn’t want to lose her too. He contemplated for a few seconds, turned right, and walked quickly towards the park.

*****

Sai reached his office at 9:40 A.M. The Chairman was shaking hands with Megha and everyone was clapping when he entered.

“Here we have Sai at last, coming late for an important meeting,” the Chairman said, while Sai sat down on his chair. “I am sure you have a good reason…”

“Just as I was about to leave home today morning, my dog ran out of the house to a neighboring park. Last time she did this, she’d developed a bad skin infection. I didn’t want that to happen again. So I had to go after her and bring her back,” Sai told the truth.

The room was silent for a few seconds. The Charmain stood up and pointed towards Megha. “Sai, would you like to congratulate your new Branch Manager, Megha?” he asked.

Sai looked at her. She was smiling. He looked back at his Chairman. “I was late just for one meeting and you decide on the promotion based on that?” he fumed.

The Chairman sat down on his chair and looked at the attendees for a couple of seconds. He said, “Sai has a valid point,” He turned towards Sai. “Let’s suppose, you and a rival company executive had a client meeting today to decide on an order worth rupees one crore. If you don’t reach there on time, the order will go to the rival. And your dog runs out. Would you have done the same thing?”

Sai was stumped by the question. “Yes, I would have done the same thing,” he said after a brief pause.

“That, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the reason why I did not appoint Sai to the new role,” the Chairman said and moved on to other matters.

*****

Sai ate two subs, and drank two cokes, at the Subway stall opposite to his office, after the meeting. He couldn’t even imagine working under Megha, who was his junior by five years. He decided to meet the Chairman to give his resignation letter in person when he got a call from his former boss, working now at a rival MNC company.

“Hi Sai. Heard you are looking for a change?” he asked.

“How do you know boss,” Sai replied.

“Oh that, I still have close contacts in your company. By the way, we are looking for a Regional Manger for our Chennai branch. Would you like to join?” he asked.

“I…” Sai hesitated.

“Don’t worry, your pay will be 30% more than Meghana’s and we work only five days a week,” he said.

“Wow, I want to join,” Sai confirmed. And added, “You don’t know how much this offer means to me now. I don’t have words enough to thank you boss…”

“Oh, you don’t need words to thank your dog,” he said.

Sai smiled.

Destination Infinity

Abstract Expressionism: Paintings by an Indian Artist

Assignment for readers: Look at the above paintings for a couple of minutes. And then mention in the comments section on what you feel. What comes to your mind? What do you imagine? It could be some thing, some emotion, anything.

Meet Samatha Sharma, the Indian artist/painter who creates art in the ‘Abstract Expressionism’ genre. These paintings are by her, and is a part of Movement series.

In India, we are exposed to art that is based on a form — some person, some object, some action, some thing. But there could also be art that is formless. Abstract Expressionism is a genre that seeks to get out of the idea that art needs to be based on objects (or) art needs to have a form.

I know it’s difficult to accept something like that, especially with the kind of art/paintings we are exposed to, here. Initially, when I looked at the paintings, I couldn’t figure out anything. But eventually, when I kept looking at it, the art elicited certain emotions out of me.

I was, of course, thinking in terms of forms — any objects that some corner of the painting reminded me, but at the end of the day, after being exposed to multiple paintings in the same genre, I realized form is not required to connect emotionally with art. For instance, certain colors make us feel in a certain way, don’t they?

I looked up the dictionary for the meaning of the word expressionism and here it is:

“A style of painting, music, or drama where the artist seeks to express the inner world of emotion rather than external reality.”

So, are you ready to give your answers for the assignment? There is no right or wrong, just tell us what you felt.

Here’s the artist’s email address if you want to connect/have a look at the paintings: samatha.express[at]gmail.com.

Destination Infinity

This BLOG is not our Web-blog :P

I was surprised to see this shop opposite to Ambattur Rakki Cinemas in Chennai. But I guess the name is not inspired from our web-blog

Torobaka by Akram Khan & Israel Galvan @ Chennai, India

I went to Torobaka, a fusion dance performance by Akram Khan & Israel Galvan. It seems, it’s a fusion between Kathak (Indian) and Flamenco (Spanish) style of dancing. This concert was highly recommended by many, hence I went to see their performance @ Lady Andal auditorium, Chennai, India. It’s a huge auditorium and a surprisingly large number of people had assembled there to watch this performance.

Before I write my thoughts, I should mention that I have not gone to dance performances before. I have only seen a few of them in Temples and on TV. But recently I am taking active interest in experiencing different types of art forms, so I went. 

Frankly, I liked Akram Khan’s performance better probably because I am exposed more to Indian classical dance, than Western forms. But even his part was not Kathak, it was more of a fusion. Somehow I found myself looking for structure, symmetry, rhythmic hand-leg coordination, grace, discipline, etc. that we find in Indian classical dance forms. So Akram Khan’s style met my expectations in a better way. Israel Galvan’s style was more free form, which I am not exposed to much here in India.

I loved the part where Akram Khan dances solo with boots on his hands. To me, that was the highlight of today’s performance. I also liked the climax duet where both artists danced to some lively music. You should’ve seen Israel Galvan dancing while standing on a chair — amazing!

I wonder if there is any narrative/theme behind the performance. Were they trying to tell a story and was it lost on the dance-illiterate me, am not sure. One strange thing I noticed was, dancers were constantly trying to close the other dancer’s mouth

Karthika Nair’s “Until the Lions” Book Release Event @ AFM

I went to Karthika Nair’s (right) “Until the Lions” book release event at Alliance Française of Madras, Chennai on 20th Sept. ’15. The book is a poetic retelling of Mahabharata in the point of view of 19 lesser known voices.

The title of the book was inspired by this quote ~

“Until the lions have their own historians, history will always glorify the hunter.” — Chinua Achebe. 

Karthika Nair is obviously a poet, but she is also a Dance Choreographer and Producer. She says that her poetry is partly inspired by movement (of dance)! Other inspirations include B. R. Chopra’s Mahabharat serial in DD channel in the late 80s (the arrow multiplying with each frame one) and even Dhalapati Tamil movie, which revisits the equation between Duriyodhana and Karna — that’s an interesting view!

I guess most of us know the broader narrative of Mahabharata, but not its deeper intricacies, definitely not in the eyes of the minor characters — that too in poetic form. The 19 or so voices (characters) seek to connect with the readers in their own emotional tones — that’s a difficult feat to pull off, don’t you think?

The author read three excerpts of poems from her book — one was violent, one was terrifying, and the third made me empathize. It seems Satyavati is the dominant (narrative) voice, and there are other voices like Kunti, Amba, Mohini, and even a dog! Surprisingly Draupadi’s voice doesn’t appear as the author felt there were so many works that feature Draupadi prominently.

As pointed out by an audience member, the narrating of the poems by the author with appropriate emotional tones was an interesting experience, and we were not sure if we’d get the same feel while reading. But the author pointed out that while reading, we are our own narrator, and hence that’d be interesting too. I think the author can create an audio book version by narrating the book in her own voice.

Exposure to such different art forms enables me to feel the emotional connection/experience offered by each. Maybe you should try too

Destination Infinity

Meetup with Khushwant Singh, Author of Maharaja in Denims

Our Writers’ Ink group arranged a meetup with Author/Columnist Khushwant Singh on Sat, 19th Sept. ’15 at CCD – The Lounge, KNK Road, Chennai. He was in town just for a day and graciously agreed to meet upcoming writers here.

*Although the names are the same, don’t confuse him with the other novelist Khushwant Singh who died last year at 99 years of age.*

Khushwant Singh is the author of the novel, Maharaja in Denims, which is a Historical Fiction set in Punjab. A young man in the present times believes that he is the incarnation of the Great Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and is haunted by the memories from that era… so the story starts.

It seems this is the first fiction work of Khushwant Singh, who is also a Newspaper Columnist, Author of Non Fiction books — his next book might be a biography, and a farm owner. He lives in Chandigarh and his farm is in Hoshiarpur, Punjab.

We spoke about a lot of topics including books, writing, lit fests, travel, and life. He told us how he had visited the museum housing Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s Throne, Palace diaries and even the Kohinoor diamond (in the UK) while doing research for this book. He says, although the novel is set in Chandigarh, everyone would find it interesting because people and politics are same everywhere, and we need to know the history to understand the people of a different region.

His novel is one of the first novels where the terrorism in Punjab (before a couple of decades) has been featured. We spoke about how religion shapes culture, why people should travel more frequently, why arts need to be encouraged by the state and individuals, how arts offer a creative medium to vent peoples’ pent up energies which could otherwise be spent in an anti-social way.

It seems this is the first time he has come to Chennai, so we recommended Idly and Dosa at Saravana Bhavan. However, he told us he was already familiar with Dosas as he grew up eating them at the hands of sisters from Kerala who had established a school near his farm.

I want to read his books, to learn how he describes people and places — both in the historical and contemporary perspective.  And of course, a story that illuminates an important historical figure — Ranjit Singh, about whom I don’t know much —  is always welcome

Destination Infinity

YU Yuphoria: Advantages & Limitations

My relative, Ashwin, bought the Yu Yuphoria phone before a month and I asked him to share the advantages and limitations of the phone. Here it is:

Advantages:

Great price for premium features
Gorilla 3 Glass ~ Good touch response
Great Speaker output
2 MB RAM: Able to play heavy games without lag
5 MP Front Camera is very good
Dual-4G SIM support ~ both SIM slots support 4G/3G/2G
Highly customizable Cyanogen OS. Within a week of buying, his phone was upgraded from Android Lollipop 5.0.1 to 5.0.2. Frequent updates guaranteed!
Battery is good, phone works for more than a day even when WiFi and 3G are switched On (2230 mAh)
He’s able to use the phone continuously for more than a week without having to restart. No lag due to it
Built-in Baton app for cloud storage (good storage capacity for free)
Champagne gold metal bar and white surface gives a premium look

Limitations:

Currently available only by registration and waiting for an invite. Not all of us have the time to wait when we want to buy a new mobile
Headphones effect in this mobile is not good, even with premium headphones
While playing heavy games or charging, phone heats up near the earphone and near the rear camera
Phone gives priority to (and switches to) 2G signal, than 3G signal, if the 2G signal strength is more
No OTG support
Rear camera is good, but image saturation is high. Colors appear darker
When he enables the ‘press power button to end call’ option, the call ends even if he presses the volume button
After the first update, there is a difference between the visible picture on the camera frame on the phone screen (and) the picture actually taken by the phone
HD screen, not Full HD

In spite of the limitations mentioned above, he highly recommends Yu Yuphoria phone to everyone and is happy with his purchase. Thanks Ashwin, for the review

Destination Infinity

ATTN ISPs: Enable Access to Internet Recharge page ALWAYS

This is one problem most pre-paid customers face: To recharge their pre-paid Internet (2g/3G) account once it is exhausted (when the bandwidth quota or the time period lapses), customers have to find another Internet connection to do a recharge. Otherwise, they have to go and do the recharge from a shop.

Why? 

Why can’t the ISPs provide always-on access to their recharge page alone, even after the customer’s plan is exhausted?

This is a no-brainer if the ISP wants the customer to recharge and continue with their Internet access service. But none of the ISPs do. Is it so difficult?

Because of this, we are forced to have to have a backup Internet plan. What if, we are impressed with the backup, and shift to that service for our primary Internet requirements? It happened with me, and can happen with others too.

Forget net neutrality and free access to FB/WhatsApp, etc. My humble request to ISPs: Please provide Internet access to your recharge page alone (at least) so that pre-paid customers can access that even if their balance is zero. They only access it to put some money there no?

Help the customer to buy your pre-paid service. Please!!!

And while we are on the topic of Mobile 3g Internet, kindly give more bandwidth plan options. We may take 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 or 12 GB based on the requirement for THAT MONTH. Don’t give options like 1,3,8, or 12 and numerous sub-1GB plans!!

Destination Infinity

PS: It’s strange that someone has to write a blog post about this.

#Hopelesscustomerservice #ISP

Do You Like to See Advertisements on Webpages?

Unlike many, I like to see ads on webpages I visit. I don’t understand why people consider ads to be irritating or distracting. I generally give half-a-second for any ad to interest me, maybe less. If it doesn’t, I’ll shift my focus. I can easily ignore ads I don’t want to see. 

Of course, I should admit that certain ads, like the ones they put on Youtube — see this 30 second ad and then we’ll let you see your 3 minute video (or) see this ad and you’ll be directed to the content later — are irritating indeed. Because they block the content and force me to see an unrelated advertisement (mostly).

I don’t like pop up/pop under kinda ads — fortunately I don’t see them much nowadays. I don’t like websites where a video ad starts playing once I enter — they create unnecessary noise and waste my bandwidth.

Anything else, is fine.

In fact, since I don’t watch TV or read newspapers much, I come to know about the latest products/services only through Internet website ads. Sometimes, the ads are even informative: I can learn when the IPL is going to start, when an interesting event is going to happen in my city, when a new movie/book/music album is getting released, etc.

Some ads are contextually relevant and useful. If I am reading an article on Air Conditioners and I see an interesting offer/ad for an AC, obviously I’d be interested to know more.

Sometimes, my browser “remembers” which sites I’ve visited and displays ads from exactly those companies. Actually, I don’t mind the tracking part, but why advertise a service that I’ve rejected in the past, again? That maybe irritating, but sometimes I am glad to rediscover something I forgot, or see it in a new light. So it depends.

Some ad graphics are simply beautiful and I admire the creativity of those designers. I’ve started to take a close look at them so I can adopt a few of those techniques myself

I read that an ad-blocker becomes a bestseller and is withdrawn because ‘its success doesn’t feel good‘. I find it amusing that a paid ad-blocker has even become a bestseller in the first place. Are people getting *too paranoid*?

It seems, in the future, ad networks can track you to the extent that they’ll be able to guess what you will want next (before you even realize it yourself) and advertise that.

I say, bring it on. It will be a great time saver

That’s the reason I don’t want to block all ads. I have already mastered the art of selectively watching only those ads I want to see. And I want to see some!

How about you? Do you like or hate ads?

Destination Infinity

Kirumi Movie Review ~ நீ உன்னை காக்க பணிந்தால் தவறில்லை

Kirumi Tamil Movie Trailer:

 

Kirumi is a Tamil movie directed by Anucharan starring Kathir and Reshmi Menon. I saw this movie first day first show @ Sri Ganga Cinemas, Kolathur, today.

Theme: நீ உன்னை காக்க பணிந்தால் தவறில்லை.

Movie review: Realistic crime drama with normal people, and that makes it a bit uninspiring.

பட விமரிசனம்: உண்மைய சொலிருக்காங்க, ஆனா இன்னும் சுவாரசியமா சொல்லிருக்கலாம்.

I like movies that tell the truth. This is one such movie. In spite of being a crime drama, nothing is exaggerated. People and the way they handle situations are normal. While that adds to the realism of the movie, lack of characters that do something extraordinary makes the movie uninspiring.

Story is quite believable and the screenplay is tight. Cinematography and music is good. The biggest loophole is: We get to see only Kathir’s side of the story and not the Inspector’s side. I think for the story to have been more effective, they could have showed both sides. Maybe that’s why I felt a void while the movie ended. I wanted to know what actually happened on the other end.

Kathir is a normal youth living in North Madras. Charlie, I guess a relative of Kathir, is a police informer and he introduces Kathir to the Inspector, who appoints him ‘unofficially’ as police helper/informer. Kathir was earlier slapped by a bar owner, and taking advantage of his current position, he informs to the inspector about the illegal gambling racket going on in that bar.

But the bar is in an area under the control of a different inspector. These two inspectors are shown to be rivals, hence the bar is raided and 25 Lakhs cash seized. Immediately after this, rowdies attack Kathir and Charlie, and they kill Charlie. What happens to Kathir, will he also be eventually killed, or will he avenge his killers?

The story is good. I found the end a bit jarring and incomplete, and I am sure many will too, but that’s an appropriate ending to reinforce the theme. I am not a big fan of cinemas giving “messages” but that happens quite frequently in Tamil cinemas, so I don’t want to get there now. But the advise/message given was right, whether it left the viewers in a bad taste or not.

My guess on the inspector’s side story: Both the inspectors were hand-in-glove and they raided the bar to cross-check the amount of cash transactions happening there, in order to increase the bribe amount. Kathir and Charlie were just pawns in this game. Once they were perceived as a threat, the Inspectors arranged to kill them, although they were helping the inspector.

I wish the movie makers had told the full story.

Destination Infinity