Too Much To Carry Too Less To Wear

Now that you have seen this ad, tell me how should I interpret it as ?

1. Wearing VIP briefs or the female version of a brief(if one exists) makes one's journey happy and enjoyable ?
2. The VIP suitcases are so spacious, one can literally travel bare naked and have a happy journey ?

Agreed, the girl looks cute, but what should we make of the ad itself ? Albeit it is obvious it is a suitcase showroom, a layman may have struggled to find out what the ad is for. Maybe if he had known VIP briefs he would have gone to the suitcase showroom of VIP and asked ..... "Briefs please ....." (aka Moods ad)!!!

The ad above is more apt for the caption - Too Much To Carry Too Less To Wear. Which is true in modern day scenario, where clothes are getting skimpier. As a result, I fear the day when they would be so skimpy, the girl in the ad may not be adorning anything at all !

N.B. I took the above snap from a V.I.P showroom I had been to, to purchase a suitcase.

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A Frustrated Bencher ..

I hope there is soon a verb called Benching in the Oxford dictionary. The meaning should be, any IT professional (aka software engineer) who keeps warming his seat whilst the company pays for him month on month, without allocating him into any project. Thus, the IT professional would be described as being on bench, and the activities he does (or doesn't) should be called as benching !

Now, consider a case when there is a candidate who is on bench, and another friend of his who has a long running project. They meet over a cup of tea and have a discussion, like the famous Deewar dialogue exchange between Shashi Kappor(in this case the guy working on a project), and Amitabh Bacchan (in this case the bencher)...

In typical Deewar style, the bencher asks : "Mere paas computer hai, free time hai, keyboard hai, internet hai, tumhare paas kya hai" ?

The project guy : "Mere paas .... PROJECT HAI" !!

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Karnataka: Preserving Its Culture

On Karnataka Rajyotsava day, as many as nine cities in Karnataka were renamed. Significantly, Bangalore has been rechristened as Bengaluru. However, on such a colorful and joyous day, the scenes were somewhat similar to when Rajkumar passed away earlier in the year. The difference was that there wasn't any violence. But the show of strength and might of Kannadigas was in full display with the yellow and red flags all around.

All the big shopping malls were geared up for any untoward incidences by appeasing these groups and hoisting the flag all over. In fact the flags were pasted all around food joints at Forum where I had been. Though Forum was flooded with these flags, it was ironic to note that at PVR cinemas (inside Forum), almost all seats were available for a Kannada movie, while even badly doing Bollywood and Hollywood movies were housefull.

One can very much empathise with the Kannadigas, because their culture is fast getting eroded. The cosmopolitan populace in the city of Bengaluru has made them feel insecure about their identity. MNC's, international fast food joints, multiplexes, all seem to be nurturing interests of everything which is non-Kannadiga. What was concerning to see was, the show of strength was with an intention to create problems wherever they possibly could. Large groups were going around in rickshaws and vans waving the flags all around the city. A sense of insecurity which can only be overcome by show of strength one could say. Which in a way is right. But to intimidate the citizens and then demand respect is not the way forward.

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Move Over Captain ...

Funny that Greg Chappell has been more in the news than the captain Rahul Dravid. Not that Dravid hasn't done his bit to try and bring Indian cricket to higher standards. Chappell has been like a strict disciplinarian while Dravid more of the low profile type. This has been perceived as a lack of assertiveness in team decisions by Dravid. What this has done is quite the opposite of what captains normally undergo when their teams do not do well. For the first time maybe, the captain is not quite as much under the scanner as the coach is.

While the subcontinental teams, have always had captains as the scapegoats, this time around the coach is bearing the brunt. Over experimentation is the main reason why everyone is blaming on the Indian coach. Quite contrary to earlier times this. This is not to discount the efforts of Dravid as captain, who has been deservedly nominated for the captain of the year award by ICC. Being a low profile captain probably has helped Rahul's cause. The stature of Dravid and the respect the team and India as a whole has for him helps in him not being blamed too much for the team's bad performances. It has always been the case that the captain is blamed for the poor performances of the team, which is totally unfair. The players have to contribute and play as a team. This is so even when all are blaming the coach. There are now reports that Chappell's contract with the BCCI might not extend beyond the World Cup in 2007.

The captain can definitely have a bearing on the game of cricket. Cricket is one of the very few games, where the captain's strategies and moves can decide the fate of the game. When a game such as cricket, which is a religion in a country with a population of over a billion, the pressure becomes too much at times. It becomes imperative that the captain of such a team performs well, and consistently, even through tough times. This is what Tendulkar, and (now) Dravid have done. But even Sachin's captaincy was under scrutiny after disappointing team performances in Australia in 1999-2000 which is when Saurav Ganguly stepped in.

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To Win Or Not To ???

So, SETMAX continues to woo a large audience now, courtesy the entertainment factor, rather than the cricket one, which sadly for Indian audience died a sudden death with India's early exit. The Dhoom-2 cast appearing for the pre match shows, does help MAX manage to get the same TRP for their Extraa Innings show. As part of the promotion of Dhoom-2 , prizes too are being given away to lucky winners of various contests during the cricket matches.

One such contest has Bipasha coming on air and announcing the prize that can be won by the winner. The winner would get a costume from the Dhoom - 2 collection. Now, if it is one of Bipasha's costumes,then I really do hope that the winner has some spare clothes with her. He/she wouldn't want to be dressed(or not ???) like Bipasha, would she ? I also do hope the Dhoom 2 collection is not the used ones of the famed actors. Or, would there now be ads for the sweaty amalgamation of the stars being marketed as Swe(a)etScent ??

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