Bollywood's Invasion of Toronto - IIFA Weekend

Celebrities, especially movie-stars are demigods in most of the cases and gods in the remaining. When these demigods come down to entertain their fans live or just give a glimpse, there is no stopping for adrenalin rush, high octane energy, deafening screams, fits of ecstasy. The trend is universal - be it Kodak theater of LA during Oscars or Cannes Festival. But what we have witnessed this weekend was Baap of all festivals, not just because of stars but because of fans and audience who painted the city red with their passion towards showbiz.

Toronto which is the home for Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is known to be a hub for movies, showbiz and has a dedicated "entertainment district" in the heart of downtown. When the city roped in IIFA after a bid of some $12 million, nobody expected that the returns would be in the tune of almost $100 million and 30,000 tickets will be sold out in 10 freaking minutes, thanks to movie-crazy city (obviously due to people like me ;))

The events started a week ago and culminated in the awards show on Saturday night and believe me it was Bollywood's invasion of Toronto. Downtown was gripped in high fever with flash mobs performing in major intersections, tourists pouring in from US, UK and other countries, banners, advertisements flashing all over, black market heating up, media erupting with columns about bollywood stars and their comparison to American counterparts. The hype and hullabaloo surpassed biggest events which were held with biggest Hollywood stars and rockstars. Reason: Shahrukh Khan was coming too.

As mentioned earlier, more than stars themselves, the festive aura created by fans, general public, PR and marketing machinery was breathtaking which premier (equivalent to chief minister) of Ontario could not resist but to receive almost all stars personally at the airport and arrange their comforts in and around Royal York Hotel, which became another hotspot for the week.

The next week was abuzz with fashion shows, music shows, tribute to MJ, tribute to Raj Kapoor, chat shows, premieres, stars' parties and more. All stars repeatedly showered flowery praises on audience and people of Toronto (which I'm sure they do everywhere they go :D)), but the kind of attention they received here was phenomenal which was infectious and they reciprocated with equal warmth, interest and made the event, a blitzkrieg.

My wife was proactive enough to grab two tickets as soon as the sale proceeds started in January 2011, but I thought it would be any other event, especially because AR Rahman's show we attended last year was lacklustre and bland. I was in my own sweet little world away from the hype and hence was in a kind of shock to see so much India in Toronto when I visited the core area two days before the main event. I'm sure local Caucasians and non-desis would have felt a bit confused, insecure and invaded with the kind of bolly-onslaught :D

Something About the Stars:

The day before the main event was a limited invitee party organized on behalf of Shahrukh Khan and Vivek Oberoi in Sheraton Center - ironically attended by 2000 people. Or may be the word limited was used to distinguish from the main event where many more were expected :D..Okay..the party was held in a ballroom and after some wait, Vivek Oberoi flashed in white jodhpuri and spent an hour exchanging pleasantries and trying to be a good boy, which was kinda boring.

SRK made people wait for a while before arriving in his black DON types suit only to make the audiences hysterical who screamed for 20 mins straight before he could talk a word. Yeah, feminine lungpower ruled the roost :)..I've never been a great fan of SRK movies, though I like his offscreen persona, charm, spontaneity, wit and humor which he showcased again proving why he is a darling of masses.

Shahrukh Khan @ Sheraton Center, Toronto
Photo Courtesy: Wifey

He clearly made it an interactive session and made his audience feel important and special. Maybe he knows that's how he could retain and make fans, but the precision of his people management skills is par excellent. I was one of the few selected by his security personnel to ask him a question but I didn't have any in my mind as there was nothing I wanted to know about him which he didn't tell in his televised interviews by then.

But since the opportunity beckoned I asked him whens the next movie he would be shooting in Toronto. He answered that he shot most of "Kal Ho Na Ho" in Toronto except landmarks of NYC (Brooklyn bridge, Times Square, Central Park etc) and was working on some script which would be shot in the city again. Then the next question, I asked about his confidants out of the industry to which he answered something but I could not concentrate. But the humility and importance with which he answered my questions in that 5 minute one-to-one conversation made me feel very important. Liked it. I also mentioned to him that my mom is his fan and then my wife screamed aloud that she loves him which he reciprocated with a gentle bow and a smile :)

Towards the end, he approached all his fans who wanted to take his autographs and my wife was one of them and a luckier one perhaps to get much more attention that just an autograph. She liked it :)

All these stars whom we always read about in print, electronic and web media, magazines, tabloids, see on silver screens, small screens seemed so approachable and normal that the halo created by the media seemed so affected and projected.

IIFA Awards Nite

IIFA Awards Stage @ Rogers Center, Toronto
Photo Courtesy: Wifey

The next day evening was the mega event at Rogers Center, the local baseball team's adda. When we reached the place, we were shocked to see people thronging in tens of thousands to have a glimpse of stars on the red carpet (called green carpet in IIFA's context). We were bowled by the spectacular colors, projections and arrangements on the stage and were pleasantly surprised that our seats were close enough to the main stage.

The event started at 9 pm and ended at 2:30 am but there was never a dull moment, thanks to fantastic hosting by Shahrukh Khan, Anil Kapoor, Boman Irani, Ritesh Deshmukh, Karan Johar. It was good to see legendary stars like Asha Bhonsle, Dharmendra, Sharmila Tagore, Hema Malini, Zeenat Aman, Rishi Kapoor, Sridevi; colorful performances by Priyanka Chopra, Bipasha Basu, Kangna Ranaut.

Seeing Hillary Swank, Brett Lee, Cuba Gooding (Show me the money-guy) was a big surprise for me. Sonu Nigam, Shankar Mahadevan never took the stage.

Others who were on stage to the delight of boisterous audience were actresses Anushka Sharma, Genelia, Mallika Sherawat, Sonakshi Sinha, Shilpa Shetty, Dia Mirza, Malaika Arora, Esha Deol, Amisha Patel, Lisa Ray; Studs like Arjun Rampal, Rahul Khanna, Dino Morea, Ranveer Singh, Deols (Sunny, Bobby), Khans (Arbaaz, Sohail, Fardeen, Zayed etc), Sonu Sood, Ardhad Warsi, Javed Jaffery, Irfan Khan and others

After Shahrukh, if there was any other rockstar who amused the crowd by his very appearance on stage, it was Ranveer Singh who got unprecedented response from the audience. If the public mood is any gauge, he can be the next superstar, provided he selects good flicks. The highlight of the show was a much awaited grand finale by Shahrukh who started his dance but soon made the whole audience dance to his tunes. Witty one liners by hosts were cracking ;)

Though A-listers Bachchans, Hrithik, Salman, Katrina, Kareena etc didn't show up, audience didn't seem to complain but were certainly disappointed with absence of their very own fellow Canadian citizen Akshay Kumar, who usually spends a hell lot of a time here.

Coming to the recipients of awards, like any other award there is a high probability of fixing those because movies like My Name is Khan and Dabangg swept almost all awards to the delight of NRI fans who predominantly are devoted to Shahrukh and Salman. Organizers seemed to play to the galleries. I thought SRK was not worth a "Best Actor Award" for MNIK but I forgot that when he said "My Name is Khan, and I'm a Torontonian" in his winning speech :)

Why People Dislike Me !

I guess I'm lucky to have people who like me unconditionally for what I'm and who never see anything bad about me but I must admit there are equal number of people who are not really fond of me and who ran into some sort of strained relationships with me because of mutual discomfort. I'm writing this post to list down why I end up having problems with some people, what qualities in others I can't get along with and why some people don't like me.

First I present a list of qualities which I don't like in others and then another list of negative qualities in me which some people dislike :)

Usually if I don't like some quality in others which I don't like, I just ignore that and stop acknowledging the very behavior or sometimes the person himself/herself. But sometimes I can't escape when their behavior affects me directly. Here is the list of such irritating qualities I can't somehow tolerate:

• Harshness: I love soft-spoken people even if they talk tough with convictions and reasoning. But I so often face so called self proclaimed straight forward bums who talk harsh and call it being straight forward. I have written an article exclusively on this topic (Harsh Criticism)
• Backbiting: One of the reasons for my flaring temper. There are morons all over who can never take me on directly and hence resort to backbiting, hypocrisy, double crossing, faking and propaganda. Most of the cases, I stop acknowledging existence of such people.
• Me too syndrome: A rather funny and miserable set of souls. These people have sharper tongues than ears. They don't even wait for me to complete my sentence before saying "me too" and start bragging about themselves to prove they are more worthy or talented than I'm. Good if they are, but conversation with such people is often worthless and annoying.
• Exploitation: I don't mind people using me for their benefit. I don't even expect them to remember what they got out of me but there are certain section of people who try to take undue advantage and try to manipulate me to their tunes which I get livid with. This is something which I'm completely intolerant about.
• Loudmouths: I abhor loudmouths who always depend on their coarse and undignified behavior to prove their point. I don't see any point talking to such people and want to be away from all such menacing illogical brats.
• Scheming: Another set of morons who always see an opportunity to play dirty politics even when  not necessary.

As I mentioned earlier, I don't tend to acknowledge or react to most of such people whom I don't get along well with unless and until their behavior affects me directly. A previous write-up as how to deal with such negativity (Dealing with Negativity)

Now the big topic. Just like a coin which has two sides, there are qualities in me which people dislike, have problems with or sometimes simply hate. I don't mind putting these thoughts across the table :)

• Temperamental / moody: I'm called short-tempered and moody by quite a few people which is somewhat true. My mercury levels shoot up rapidly but I seldom express my anger and when I don't want others to get hurt, I just get silent, stop reacting to them which makes me look moody :)
• Arrogant: Lot of people said this including my mom :) May be I'm but I don't remember rubbing my arrogance on anybody or denigrating / belittling anybody. I just feel proud and good about myself but never speak derogatory about others. So my arrogance is harmless :)
• Argumentative: This strained my relationships with quite a few. Be it political, religious, economical, behavioral, managerial, professional, personal or any damn thing, I have an opinion on almost everything and I don't really follow something just because others say so and hence some people dislike me. But I never tried to appease this set of people :)
• Indisciplined: Serious charge but true. My wife hates this. I don't like going to bed before 3 am, don't like waking up before 10 am, don't like working from 9-5, my productive work starts after 10 pm, I never follow balanced diet or any regimens and disregard a lot of other social and moral ways of life which people usually associate with discipline. I somehow couldn't synchronize myself with some rules and have found an alternative to compensate every indiscipline.
• Show-off: Rather humorous allegation but I don't mind showing off something which I'm proud of. I usually show-off to people whom I love and who take pride in my success, possession and not to impress somebody who is not so important for me. So if somebody feels insecure about what I do, I try very less to make them feel comfortable :)
• Dominate: Some people allege that I dominate, but I never assert my authority or control over others, however close they could be. I just don't like others exercising any control over me and in that sense, I'm brutally independent, but don't believe in dominating anybody. This is a misconception which was brought to my notice a lot of times but I didn't know how to shed this image.
• Careless: Another quality which my mom always complains against me. Yes, I'm careless and negligent to lot of things, tasks, people though I don't always mean to. May be this is a manufacturing defect :)
• Bad at maintaining relationships: I guess this is my only negative quality that I'm shameful about. I'm worst at saving relationships despite seeing increasing gaps or drifting rapport. People mistake it as my ego, but I somehow am not good at saving relationships or friendships turning sour. I lost a lot of loved ones due to this one reason which I always repent.

There could be many more negative qualities in me, but these are few which I could narrow down after analyzing why some people dislike me. The reason for writing about these negative qualities is not to explain or convince anybody who doesn't like me, but to present my other side to those who like me so that they can decide if they still want to like me or not :D

Education System - A Travesty

I always believe I learnt more from google, wikipedia than from text books in schools or colleges. My english grammar and comprehension skills were enhanced by non-curriculum based books written by Wren & Martin, Normal Lewis, Nurnberg & Rosenblum etc, but not by english text books I mugged up in school. My analytical skills were honed by my preparation of GRE, CAT and other aptitude exams but not.....oops, there was no such subject at school dedicated to improve analytical aptitude :)

Back in school, teachers favored only those students who mugged up books and vomited their memory on answer sheets. So whenever I tried to write a concept I understood, in my own words, I ended up getting lower marks and I saw an imminent danger of missing the ubiquitous aim of maintaining 85% (which was considered a hallmark for intelligence, hardwork in those days - mid 90's). So I followed the herd, mugged up words, filled additionals and somehow managed to cross the so called cut off mark. But what I didn't realize was that I ended up being just another floppy disk of memory and not a genuinely intelligent kid.

There were many who were genuinely awesome who applied thought and reasoning behind concepts, derived formulae, tried to relate practical implementation of everything they learnt including Pythagoras and other theorems or organic chemistry or quantum mechanics. But ironically, such students passed with average marks and later joined some average course which didn't tap or suit their knowledge. On the other hand, those who by-hearted formulae, theorems, answers got admission into creme-de-la-creme courses which hurled them into cushioned careers.

Bottom Line: Those who were analytical, reasoning and practical didn't get marks and their careers went into oblivion. That's the situation of our exams / grades driven education system.

Intermediate education has been worse to its core. Cracking EAMCET was the final destination and students were put to every kind of pressure to reach that destination rather than directing them to excellence. I have to confess that whatever I've done in those two years was crap as I never tried to think above EAMCET. I kind of mugged up some 500 formulae in MPC and worked on some 1000 model papers to see what kind of questions were asked earlier. It became a method-preparation in rat race. After this kind of homework, EAMCET went well. I was expecting 400 rank but got 4000 rank and quite naturally, I could not perform well in IIT-JEE as I lacked that conceptual aptitude, which I repent till date.

Engineering was another black spot. After 4 years, I got B.Tech certificate but could never understand how to apply that knowledge. Even those who were interested in that field, underwent private courses on related subjects before bagging jobs in the field. This was the direct result of irrelevant course curriculum and lack of practical approach which took a toll on students when they became employees. No surprise, we see lakhs of engineering students graduate every year, but only a handful of them - resourceful.

With the kind of half baked theoretical knowledge I acquired in B.Tech, I was apprehensive to appear for technical exam like GATE and hence chose GRE because it was all about maths, english which I always loved. The exam went well, I received I20's from decent universities, planned everything for US travel but US consulate turned to be my bete noire since then. 4 times rejection of student visa under the pretext that I was a potential immigrant left me half happy, half sad; happy because I didn't have to pursue MS again in engineering and sad because I didn't have an alternative.

Then started my journey towards CAT which was supposedly the toughest exam in India. I was over-ambitious and over confident because the syllabus was again my favorite - maths, analytical and english.  But the exam clearly defied my over-confidence and I could not get admission in IIMs. Another repentance of my life. But I had a sense of deja vu, when I got an admission in second rung business school which thankfully considered by CAT scores.

Only after joining MBA did I realize the blackhole in the education I underwent till then.  In MBA, I was made to work on lot of projects to understand the ground reality and challenges the real world faced with little emphasis on marks and grades. As a part of curriculum, I knocked door to door to sell insurance policies, online bill payment solutions; went around offices to sell corporate greeting cards for new-years; roamed around bus stops to conduct surveys, sat hours before computer to identify target customers, wrote business plans, marketing plans, market research strategies, learnt how to speak, how to present, how to communicate in the real situations - all through working with structured companies like ICICI, BSNL, TATA AIG, Dr. Reddy's Labs, ITC etc. MBA was the course where I scored the least (marks) in my education history but again that was the phase where I "learnt" something, which I missed earlier. The corporate world too didn't peep into my academic score when they offered me the job.

So what I understood was that if there was a practical orientation in a course, the student will learn and can easily bridge the gap between academics and work atmosphere.

Now talking about the current education system, it is simply worsening students' aptitude by over emphasizing on marks and grading system. 95% has become a joke and making things worse, a college affiliated to Delhi University made 100% as a cut-off mark for admissions. Ridiculous to the core. This kind of glorification of marks is adversely affecting Indian student world.

Usually there is a general perception that Indian students are intelligent but why is this intelligence not applied to develop the country ? Except one CV Raman or S.Chandrasekhar or Amartya Sen, we didn't really see nobel laureates; we never saw any significant invention or discovery from India. The only reason for this could be over-emphasis on theoretical education system, obsolete and irrelevant curriculum, unrealistic examination system, unnecessary glorification of marks, impractical criteria of admissions which leave out genuine wizards and elevate plastic brains.

That's the condition of our education system which is unwittingly hobbling the untapped talent, intelligence of young brains and hence prosperity and advancement of the country on a broader level !

PS: Related article about application of knowledge to prosper: Be an Entrepreneur !

Laws of Favour

Favour (Favor), as defined in dictionary, is any act or deed in which help is provided without expectation or reciept of anything in return. Going by this definition, I haven't done any favor to anybody in my life because I always got something in return (sometimes more than what I've done to others in return).

On the other hand, I have many people in my life who went out of their way to help me out in my bad times just to see me happy. I feel very humbled and obliged by the very thought of these people though I seldom express that in person. I try to do everything in my capacity for their benefit though I don't mean to balance or repay their timely support.

In this post, I'm trying to sum up how people ought to behave when they take or do favors to others. This is a the simple analysis of day to day situations I saw in the world around me.

LAWS OF FAVOUR

When you take favors from others:

1. Never measure the value of the favor you took. Don't calculate how much time, effort or money did the other person spend to help you. What all matters is that the person gave you a helping hand when you needed it badly regardless of how big or small the favor was. The noble intention which led the person to help you is divine and you should remember that forever.
2. Never neutralize the favor taken. Don't assume that the favor somebody did for you is cancelled just because you do something else for him later. Its your basic responsibility and duty to support those who helped you earlier. That doesn't undermine the help you have taken because today you may be in the position to help him just because of the favor you've taken earlier. So no balance sheets in favors. Its not barter trade.
3. Never live in hypothesis and assumptions. Don't ever feel that if this person didn't help you, somebody else would have done that. Whatever were the alternatives, you took somebody's help at that point and that's it.
4. Acknowledge the favor taken in public. Some people tend to thank the person who helped in private but never acknowledge the reason for his well-being in public domain. Not that the other person needs any publicity, but it shows your respect and humility in accepting the help taken in public. It only elevates both, the helper and the receiver.
5. Success is not proportional to one's talent. All talented people don't get successful if they are not supported by a lot of people. Identify those people and show gratitude for whatever they have contributed to your success and well-being, regardless of what you do to them.

When you do favors to others:

1. Never expect anything in return for the favor you do. If you expect them to do something in return, its not wrong, but your favor turns into investment. In that case you should not expect the respect and gratitude which you otherwise receive.
2. Understand the thin line between duty and favor. If doing something is your official or moral duty, don't name it as "favor". If you are being paid money, products, services, effort or any kind of contribution as per the predefined arrangement, its not a favor anymore. Some people who claim to be "serving" customers are ludicrous as what is "service" when they are being paid for their duty. Its strictly business.
3. Don't ask / expect the beneficiaries to remember the favor and behave in their benefit forever. Though it's the responsibility of the beneficiary to behave in such way, the person who helped should not really exploit the situation. Again respect is at stake.
4. Just because you helped somebody, don't get under the feeling that you are omnipotent. Even the most powerful might need favors from weaker people. Humility defines the person, not conceit.

These laws of favor if followed, will elevate the relationship, mutual respect and admiration between those who helped and those who received favors.

I support Baba Ramdev !

The first time, I've seriously taken Baba Ramdev was when he convened a series of rallies against corruption an year or so back where Anna Hazare, Kiran Bedi, Arvind Kejriwal etc came to show their solidarity. So I've known Ramdev as the pioneer in the current anti-corruption movement much before Anna Hazare took to streets.

With regard to Ramdev's on-going fast against black-money, I know black money can't be brought to India in a day. But is protesting against black money something wrong especially when Govt already has a list of people who hid black money in Swiss bank but says it's not going to release those names ? I supported Anna Hazare though I know Lokpal bill has loopholes just because it has more good points than bad. Same is the case here. I will support Baba Ramdev's stint against black money and corruption because its not against national interest.

The whole country and diaspora erupted to support Anna Hazare and Govt had its foot in mouth almost immdiately, but the sentiment is not seen now in Ramdev's case. Any reason ??

The main reason is that Ramdev wears Saffron, which is associated with Hinduism. BJP and RSS seen as Hindu organizations support him. Yes, these are the very reasons which the congress government, national media and "secularists" say. So that means, anybody associating or demonstrating Hinduism is a social outcast. Can any congress leader or anybody who claims to be secular have balls to slam any Muslim or Christian leader who takes up similar movement ? Nobody thinks twice because Ramdev is a Hindu and that too he wears saffron and that too he is openly supported by RSS. So bashing him will only appease the whole country including Hindus who are against "hindu nationalism"

An idiot by name Digvijay Singh of congress says that Hemant Karkare was not killed by Kasab, but by Hindu terrorists. He slams USA for not respecting Osama Bin Laden "ji" (as he addressed) in his last rites. He takes on Ramdev or anybody who is even remotely associated with Hindus because doing that will supposedly fetch Muslim votes. This is tacitly supported by Madam. The pack of fools thus insulting Muslims' intelligence and integrity on a wholesale basis treating them as a bunch of vote bank who can sway by their stupid tantrums without realizing that they are expanding the rift between communities.

The great Shahrukh Khan doesn't support Ramdev becuase the latter has political ambitions. So what ? Is having political ambition a bigger crime than publicly supporting a friend involved in scam of crores of rupees. SRK says Ramdev should do what he is supposed to do. Then why the f*** is he getting involved in IPL and cricket ? What does Salman Khan who is embroiled in his own set of crimes know about the on-going movement to make unwarranted remarks ?

Does the country take it kindly If lets say any muslim leader is criticized like this ? Reporters were being shot at, cartoonists are being harassed to death if a religious figure is criticized in other parts of the world. But anybody can take on representatives because Hindus are spineless morons who have been taking every crap and shit since centuries.

By the way those who slam RSS and VHP never give any reason for their bitterness. If the reason is Babri Masjid demolition, aren't congress leaders guilty for their holocaust against Sikhs. Aren't Sikhs minorities ? Aren't discrimination and crimes against Sikhs religious and fundamental crimes? So if RSS is anti-minority, isn't congress anti-minority ? Aren't Sonia, Rahul and co products of the same dynasty who made millions of Sikhs flee the country, guilty of oppression ? Isn't this bloody hypocrisy ?

Media and Govt cries when Sadhvi Rithambara of RSS shares the stage with Baba Ramdev. Are they selectively blind not to see Moulvi Rizvi and other eminent representatives of Christians, Jains on the stage ? How come nobody says that the stage is hijacked by Muslim league or Jain groups ??

Yellow journalists like Barkha Dutt, Sagarika Ghose, Rajdeep Sardesai who play a proxy game in favour of congress have already started their trials to sabotage the movement.

If I'm a bit intelligent and have some logic left behind my mind, I would continue supporting every anti-corruption wave without falling prey to the collective propaganda of the government which has been a safe haven for scamsters, terrorists, corrupted, criminals and media which supports the pack of criminals in power just in their own interest.

Disclaimer: Before anybody jumps to conclusions, I'm not a fan of Ramdev; I have never tried yoga in my life, I'm not a member or sympathizer of any right wing groups. I know a lot of readers will see me as a Hindu hardliner because am defending my identity. When somebody makes a movie called "My Name is Khan" defending his community from typecasting, I can do that in my own medium and capacity and this is my medium. Those who don't feel proud of their identity, religion, way of life is like a dead wood and I'm not one for sure. Your stance is your choice !