Change - Yours is Here

Sneha Sharma was never considered an achiever.

She graduated with us in 2005 and she got into one of those obscure IT companies and later relocated to US. But nobody knew, nobody cared. After graduation, everybody kept in touch with each other via the Alumni groups. What initially started as active conversation later turned into random forwards, job mails and finally trickled down to just the odd birthday and anniversary wishes. Sneha also posted – but again, nobody knew, nobody cared. In the latter half of 2007, Sneha posted a Happy Birthday message to the Alumni groups. Just like she had countless times before. Just like everybody else.

But this particular time, everybody knew and everybody cared.

And suddenly, after that one post, Sneha Sharma turned into an overnight celebrity. Suddenly she was the toast of the batch. Suddenly there was an immediate buzz enquiring what, where and how about Sneha Sharma. Suddenly everybody wanted to know more about Sneha. Suddenly everybody agreed that Sneha Sharma had finally arrived.

One message had catapulted Sneha Sharma into cult status.

So what did she write on that fateful day? Well, actually nothing. Or rather, nothing significant. But her post to the alumni group had a small nondescript device-generated statement just below her message and it was this statement made her the darling of the batch.

That statement read, “sent from my iPhone”.

In 2007, the world was enamored by the phenomenon that was the iPhone. In 2007, the iPhone changed the way people used, touched and saw phones. And in 2007, Sneha Sharma was the first person from our batch to own an iPhone.

And the iPhone gave Sneha Sharma a personality that she hitherto lacked.

Technology does that. You are known by the company you keep, but you are also judged by the gadget you flaunt. In fact, a recent nielsen research report claims to be able to decipher one’s personality from one’s cell phone. Try deciphering your own personality the list below:

• If you own a simple bar phone: You are a person pursuing a simple lifestyle in our modern intricate life- generally represents a person afraid of trouble, with an open mind, is a balance seeker and is health conscious.

• If you have a Slide phone and slip phone: You try to pursue a sophisticated lifestyle and are more willing to enjoy life. You are always driven by success and is a harmony seeker.

• Rotatable phone: Not really big in India yet but research says these owners are usually under 24 years old, fashion conscious, fun seekers, and individualistic. They would like to attempt new things and lead the trendy. They are usually young women who seek enjoyment, are career focused, and success driven.

It also goes by brands:

• If you own a Nokia: You’re Family Minded, Balance seekers and Health conscious middle level managers (notice the link with bar phones J)

• If you own a Motorola: You’re under 24, fashion conscious, fun seeking and highly Individualistic.

• If you own a Sony Ericsson: You’re a young guy, ambitious, individualistic and success driven professional.

• If you own a Samsung: You’re a young career focused lady, success driven but also a fun seeker.

• If you own an LG: You’re a Stay at Home Parent, you are your mom’s favorite, you are success driven but also harmony seeker.

I use a Sony Ericsson slide phone and my personality type does seem to concur broadly to the above.(Actually I’m flattered that the research says I follow a sophisticated and success driven lifestyle – only I know the real truth ;) ). But my phone means a lot more to me – it’s the first phone which I bought with my own money. Since I was always into music and Bangalore FM was a constant in my life then, this phone gave me uninterrupted and really loud supply of nonstop music (God save the neighbors!). Also, the black color gave it a sleek and sexy look. It’s lasted me more than my girlfriends have (and survived them better than I did J). For me, my Sony has always been stylish, multi faceted and ‘with it’ - traits which I myself would like to be known by. J

But is it possible to change one’s personality with the help of gadgets? Sure it is. And I’m sure almost everyone is aware of it too. Just like the Indian sari makes every lady look good, a good gadget can up everybody’s personality quotient. I remember this time when we saw this shabby guy sitting at Coffee Day and we wondered how they let him in. But when he took out his Apple MacBook Air, suddenly the same shabbiness looked immediately cool. A simple gadget changed the hitherto shabby guy into a really cool dude!!

Similarly, you can change your personality type simultaneously with choice of gadget - my dad was recently gifted an iPhone and he also uses his trusted Nokia 1100. Whenever he goes to the market to buy vegetables, my tech agnostic mom reminds dad to take the Nokia 1100 because vegetable prices have a peculiar habit of shooting up in the vicinity of an iPhone J. Similarly, whenever dad and mom comes with me for the many arranged-marriage-girl-meetings, mom reminds dad to carry the iPhone and to display it amply at the venue with practiced nonchalance to diligently look at those pesky sms-es whish are otherwise always ignored J.

Today, the hippest trend in style is accessorizing – you can accessorize your personality with multiple watches, multiple glass frames, ties, shoes, pens and now with gadgets. They can be used to suit your wardrobe and your personality. This post is written for the Dell ‘Change is Easy’ contest for the Dell Inspiron laptop and it’s claimed that this laptop can change its personality with multiple interchangeable covers, something akin to changing one’s personality by changing one’s gadgets. So if you feel today is a corporate blue day, you can accessorize your Inspiron laptop with a shade of blue to give you the corporate look; if it’s a weekend and you want to let your hair down, your laptop can sport your ‘TGIF’ style with an appropriate cover.

They say that the only thing permanent in life is change. And change we must – it’s a given. But is it easy to change? Well like the Dell Inspiron, it may just be easy to change one’s personality by simply changing one’s gadgets.

And a gadget could give you that razor sharp personality that you always craved for.

Just like the rockstar of our batch, Sneha Sharma.

J

This one's for Dell. For showing that Change is Easy. Just like their Dell Inspiron laptop, which helps you get the look that you need and the performance you want, as can be seen here.

If you like this post, vote for me here.

If not, let's go get some beer J..

Colors of India

When an Indian bride puts red on her forehead, it means a lifetime of trust, hope and commitment.

Red is called sindoor.

When a believer smears yellow on his forehead, he gives in to the Almighty’s mighty Command.

Turmeric Yellow is our glorious tradition.

When a doting mother dots a black on her beautiful born’s smiling cheek, she prays it’ll ward away evil from her young little one.

Black is a mother’s guard.

For a country of many ways, many tongues and many Gods, we remain united within our divided pursuits.

Khakhi is the protector of our unique way of life.

Our brothers and sisters, separated from us due to a partition, but still united to us at some level.

Green is our long lost sibling next door, who sadly still seems to be lost.

While grey symbolizes old the world over, it also reminds us how young we are – over half of our great population is under 25.

Grey lets us know that we will remain as one of the youngest countries in the world for a long while to come.

Between three wickets, a ball, a bat and now a cup, the hopes of a billion souls rest with the Blue.

Blue is our national pride.

Holi, Diwali, Onam, Christmas, Id, Pongal, Durga Puja and a hundred other celebrations of colors, love and happiness.

All celebrating the spirit of humanity. All celebrating the spirit of being Indian. All celebrating with color.

A mini color palate within a larger color canvas where a million dreams are given color.

A crescendo of colors called Bollywood.

One chakra. Tricolored. 28 states. A billion shades. United.

Every dream On. Every color On. Everybody On.

On a rainbow known as India.

Never Black and White.

Ever.

Sometime back in our office, we got a photo catalog of a reputed photographer with the topic ‘India in Black and White’. They displayed some brilliant shots depicting everyday images of India- tree troves, mandis, children going to school, temples – but all in Black and White . Photographic brilliance aside, after a while almost everyone felt that there was something missing in those pictures. In hindsight, we realized that the pictures depicting India missed one very important trait of India - color. Color paints a very important shade in our collective consciousness that is India – it’s part of our tradition, our heritage, our festivals, our arts, our crafts, our movies, our folklore, our Gods, our Goddesses, our prayers, our hopes, our dreams, our lives, ourselves.

There are some things that can be only in color. India was never in black and white. India will never be in black and white.

A billion colors reside united in a dream that known as India.

HP is a world leader in bringing color to life. See how the colors of India can take flight with HP Laserjet printers here.

Now, like the Indian men in white say, "Vote for me here"

:)

Picture Abhi Baaki Hai Mere Dost!!!! :)

A great philosopher once said, “Dhinka Chika, Dhinka Chika, Dhinka Chika, Dhinka Chika, Dhinka Chika, Dhinka Chika, Ae, Ae Ae Ae..” J And a country of a billion dreams is doing “the pocket TT” a la Salman. Initial reviewers of the movie said that Salman followed his last year’s blockbuster with such a bad movie. Today, it’s India’s third highest grossing movie. So who’s laughing now?

Another colorful news: Shah Rukh Khan is mega pissed that his song for his much anticipated Diwali release, Ra-One, has been leaked online. The song called “Wanna be my Chammak Challo?” done by International singer Akon (yes, SRK paid him a bomb!) has already hit half a million views on You Tube at the time of writing this post. And btw, it’s an awesome song. J

Elsewhere, Bollywood Ka Baap is smarting as his home production is being released on the same day as the home production of Box Office ka Baap, the Perfectionist Khan. When the latter refused to accommodate the former’s request for a reschedule, the former’s official quote to the situation, “Buddha Hoga Tera Baap!!!” J

Again, Perfectionist Khan refuses to attend the award functions in India where he is always a winner and he takes the trouble to go to those award shows where he loses (remember ‘Lagaan’). But we still love you, Aamir. J

While the Hollywood’s highest paid actor looked like he made one long movie, cut them into three different ones based on scenery and named them “Departed“, “Shutter Island” and “Inception” (is it only me who thinks Leo looks the same in almost all his latest movies?), our highest paid actor Rajnikanth, well, is simply Rajnikanth. His last three movies, “Robot”, “Shivaji“ and “Chandramukhi” were as different as chalk, cheese and charcoal, same formula notwithstanding….no wait, he too looks like he made one long movie and cut it into three based on heroine…oh, well…. J

Catfights aside, man fights prevail too here – Vivek Oberoi called a press conference one fine day and then he realized that he doesn’t have any good movie worth talking about to the press; so he talks about his never ending love to his lady love and how much she suffered from the other man in their life, a certain Khan. Today, Vivek still apologizes whenever the press condescends to talk with him (Yup, he still doesn’t have any good movies to talk about inspite some real raw talent).

Rani Mukherjee is upset that she’s not getting as many roles as she once did cos well, she’s looking very “healthy“ nowadays. So she vows that she’ll work up a killer bod and hit the gym with a vengeance. Latest reports state she is not able to give her dates to the gym. J

Everytime a Hritik movie comes out, his liplock comes back to the news- remember the Dhoom2 one which cost him an invite to Ash-Abhi’s wedding (Abhishek, as expected, has no idea ;)), or the Barbara Mori one (where the audience just preferred to fly kites rather than watch the movie!). Well, the latest is that Hritik’s liplock with Katrina. Who cares what happens to the movie… at least he got to kiss Katrina… rascal!

After dating half the Indian Cricket team, ‘Shanthi’ has moved on to another sport – this time, it’s Formula One, or rather to the scion of the Indian formulaone team. Oh yes, his dad also owns a cricket team.

When a superstar was fatally hurt on set, a country of followers prayed for the Coolie’s well being. He came back to health and glory and thanked his countless fans for their prayers. This was some 3 decades back. Last month, history repeated again with the robot star.

The first Bollywood movie was in Black and White. Almost 25 years after that, the first color movie came out in India in 1937. Today, Bollywood had taken flight with color so much that Bollywood single handedly colors the lives of a billion souls.

Colorful personalities. Colorful people. Colorful films.

Where else can you find so much color?

But in Bollywood.

Big fan.

J

HP is a world leader in bringing color to life. See how the colors of Bollywood can take flight with HP Laserjet printers here.

Now, for my box office, "Vote for me here"

J

King Khan Salman

And in other news, the whole nation thinks it’s a great idea to go “Dhinka Chika, Dhinka Chika, Dhinka Chika, Dhinka Chika, Dhinka Chika, Dhinka Chika, Ae, Ae Ae Ae..” J

I can’t think of anyone but Salman who can do the “Dhinka Chika”- I mean, Shah Rukh would probably make it way too stylish, while Aamir would make it perfect in every respect while Hritik would’ve made it a dancing phenomenon or Farhan would have probably sung it in his voice too. But it is Salman and only Salman who can turn street class lunacy into a national anthem for celebrating tomfoolery and still be proud of it. It borders on vulgarity but is not; it borders on taporigiri but is not and it borders on cheapness but hell, it is not.

I can’t believe that there was a time when people actually thought of writing him off. There was a time when Salman Khan was hated by the press once upon a time. And he was known more for his exploits on the wrong side of law and love. As for today, this guy consistently comes up with not just hits but blockbusters when the going is tough- the stupendous success of the movie Ready has shown his detractors that even a critically panned movie can become the third biggest grosser in history with the right choice of Khan. And movies are not only the space where he’s touched – even in the small screen, he has made his mark for himself. Bigg Boss and Dus Ka Dham are just Salman vehicles, where he’s just being himself. He’s known to help friends when they’re down, he’s known to think through his heart and he’s known for just being himself in front of a rolling camera. And if that aint enough, today he also shows the world what ‘Being Human’ is all about. Like he always said, “Ek Baar Se Dil Nahi Bharata Mudke Dekh Mujhe Dobaara.. Tan Tana Tan Tan Tan Taara” - Give him another chance n he usually delivers.

I have an ongoing argument with my friend who’s a huge Aamir fan. She says that a Salman can never be an Aamir. I highlight that the opposite is equally true. We have this discussion where I keep telling her that while 3Idiots boasts of a great script, some great performances and a great director which helped it claim the title of the biggest Indian grosser to date, the second grosser, Dabangg, has only Salman Khan as its selling point. And what a selling it has been!

As a kid, I had this rudimentary ‘CutnPaste’ method to determine a great actor: if you can cut an actor from one of his movies and paste it in another of his movies and if you see a difference, then he’s a great actor. Think Kamal Haasan – you simply cannot cut and paste him between any of his movies. His role in Chaachi 420 is so different from what he did in Hey Ram or even Hindustani/Indian – so he truly is a great actor (yes, very juvenile I know J). So from that count, is Salman a great actor? Well, Prem’s (his most popular screen name) versatility seem to span the action genre, the comedy crowd and romance, which in Bollywood parlance, is the entire span of emotions (J). But he did deliver some awesome roles in Tere Naam or as the brooding Radhe in Wanted and Chedhi Singh has no ‘conpyujen’ that only Salman could play Robinhood Pandey with such rustic finesse n glee . So Salman may or may not be the greatest actor in town but is he a great entertainer? Oh Bloody Hell Yeah!!

If you see the evolution of the man, he’s always been doing nonsensical but fun riots like ‘Dhinka Chika’ in ‘Oonchi hai building..’, ‘Janam Samjha Karo’ and a whole lotta other such numbers, but what has changed now is the absolute confidence he has in his moves – like Farah Khan said on choreographing him in Dabangg, ”U don’t choreograph Salman, he choreographs u” - Salman feels the beat of the music, evolves it into his own way and then brings out something that is distinctly his own making. In a way, Salman has always represented what Bollywood always stood for – while the other stars carved names for themselves as the thinking man’s actors, Salman represented the jatkas and the matkas of Bollywood and today his confidence in himself is a showing of Bollywood’s new found confidence in itself.

Munni’s basically family, he was dating Shiela and his character isn’t as Dheela as it is was once made of to be. He doesn’t have an IPL team yet, he doesn’t market his movies as innovatively as Aamir and yes, he is the son of a yesteryear bollywood big daddy. But he has his name stamped on four of Bollywood’s biggest all time blockbusters, has got oodles of star power and is the guy who first showed everybody else that taking ur shirt off to show off ur six pack is really the way to go.

While Shah Rukh is the King, and Aamir is beyond superlatives , Salman is just well, just Salman.

And yes, Prem.

And yes, a bloody safe bet.

J

Why my blog is so named... :)

What is in a name? Well, I don’t know but I can tell you what’s in a number.

A long time back, someone once told me that my shoe size and my IQ are the same. Since at that time I didn’t know much about the IQ scale, I thought she was complementing me and I graciously replied, “Oh thank you and yes, I do wear a big shoe. Thank u for noticing!!!” J

Later when I became a bit more worldly wise, I unwittingly realized that these two numbers, head and toe apart, does not really amount to a complement when said in the same breath.

Again on numbers, I work in a number crunching job so I have frequent mental battles on a daily basis in converting billions into crores and vice versa. And some times, the results are revolutionary. I’m not alone with this talent- in my office, there’s another dude who holds the unenviable distinction of changing billion dollar companies into million dollar ones and vice versa in his reports (which are coincidently not too well received J). And the outcomes of my mathematical background (or rather, the lack of) are not exactly, very career friendly. And after some career defining moves of such nature, I have come to realize that there is a big deal in numbers – those extra zeros at the end does somehow seem to add up to something.

So back to the main topic - what about a name? Well as we all know, Shakespeare doesn’t seem to have an issue with it – according to his famous ‘Rose’ theory, a dead fish is equally dead in any other language and would smell just as bad.

Of late, a lot of thought, time and, talk have been spent with people asking me why my blog is named so. The good people that they are, they think there is some life altering reason why I named it the way I did. And I so very wish that I had a deep, touching and moving account of why I named it so - the irony of it all is that there really isn’t any- I just named it just like that (think I was even sober at the time, for a change J ).

I have friends refer to my blog as the ‘wo fuck waala blog’, ‘the fuck blog’ (no relations to India’s other literary erotic export) and various other derivations that bring out the versatility of the f-word ( on another note, its sometimes very inspiring to know that the f-word has been used as a verb, noun, adjective, adverb, exclamation, as a subject, object… in their humble description of my blog..rather than banning this word in school, I think it should be hailed and celebrated as the most versatile word in the Queen’s language).

Even fellow bloggers have said that there’s something shady about my blog judging the blog by its name. I keep reassuring them that beside the title, the blog is actually rather tame – hell, I even write on social topics J. Some blogger colleagues at office are afraid to open my blog in office in the fear that the obvious profanity in the name may alert my company’s ever vigilant web security patrol.

BlogAdda refuses to call my blog by what it is and refers to it as ‘Flove’. I wrote to them that this amounts to moral policing and is very unbecoming of a site of their repute and requested to leave the censorship to me and humbly asked them to change the name to what it really is. I wrote 11 mails and they still have not replied. It’s been two months (so much for the freedom of expression).

The high point of it all was recently when my dad got a facebook profile. After I unassumingly and proudly accepted his friend request (of course, I privacy protected all my pics :P), he called me up the next day and asked me why the hell did I name a blog like that. He said that we are all respectable people and well regarded in society and a name like this is very cheap and asked me to change it immediately. He also warned me that I will never get a bride because of my blog and ended the argument with “What will your colleagues’ think?”. I think my last thought was “Wow, more traffic”. J

So what is in a name? My take is “Everything”. You can’t put down a name like this and I have noticed that people get amused, slightly shocked, interested and even curious when I tell them the name of my blog. It’s easier to remember than a ‘Raj’s view on life’ or ‘A social experiment called Raj’ or whatever . It is a conversation starter, sometimes a conversation ender and it is backed by some amazingly written blogs (Modesty be damned! J). I remember spending a whole night to perfect my profile write up and I’m glad it came out the way it has. I remember picking and pruning parts of my life to write the Love Story. ‘Rain’ denotes the search in me to find the ‘me’ in life. ‘You go girl’ is my admiration to the women folk, especially of my company. ‘Hazare’ and ‘Daughters’ touched me. And here I attempt to capture the blood, toil, sweat, tears and views of my life, pickled and peppered with cheerful irreverence, with these words of mine. And what do I name thee? fucklove.

And fucklove it is – a blog on ‘life’ and other popular four letter words…..now playing at a website near you J.

I remember someone saying that when tigers die, they leave behind their skins; but when people die, they leave behind their names. Since ‘raj’ is easily the most maligned Indian name on the planet , I need another legacy - who knows, it might just be ‘fucklove’.

J