Keep on swingin', don't stop swingin'...

Goa, Dec 2003

The common factor

"What's common between Melbourne, Paris, Wimbledon and New York?" screamed a billboard featuring an Indian sports starlet.

"A first round exit", I started to think. (It was actually international roaming on a mobile phone service.)

Quite the case with most wannabe sports icons. Advertising and endorsements elevate them to a stature far beyond their achievements. And soon they end up spending more time before cameras than on court or field. Another common factor?

Check this out too.
Sania Mirza wants land. CM not game.

Boys by the sea

Goa, Dec 2003

Public service advertising

This hoarding encourages you to do a Devdas. Fall in love with a woman. Then drink your guts out because you can't have her. Kill yourself. But don't drive. That could kill you earlier.

Mobile conversations and immobile complications

You're driving. And the phone rings. The hands-free set is at home. Just then another phone rings. In the pocket of the friend who is riding with you. So you pull over, and pull out. Like the law abiding citizens you are. And answer the phone. Minutes pass. Half an hour. And another.

Just then you hear another call. The traffic cops. Your car is in a no parking zone. Uh-oh!

And eventually, your call is charged at a lot more than a rupee a minute.

Careful who you turn your back on

Shot in Goa, December, 2003

What-a-cycle!

"Good God", said Sir Geoffrey

In the rear view

Meeting the maker of the Common Man

Captain Gopinath and I meet RK Laxman in Pune. Seeking the great man's permission to use the Common Man in an Air Deccan ad.

The common man

Of all the ads I wrote for Air Deccan, this one made the most sense.

Dixie Chicks vs George W Bush

While on a concert tour in London on March 10, 2003, Natalie Maines told her audience: "Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas."

Now was that being gutsy? Or was it a spur of the moment shot fired off the hip?

I'm not sure about either, but how Natalie and the Dixie Chicks handled what followed certainly showed courage. The witch hunt by the machine run by Bush left no doubt about the President's displeasure. Radio stations pulled their music off the air. Dixie Chicks merchandise was destroyed. The ladies were branded traitors. Natalie received death threats. Yes, in the country that prides itself on free speech. And if Saddam and his armed troops couldn't take on Bush, how on earth were 3 young women with guitars and violins going to?

It's all been documented in a a film called 'Shut up and sing' released only in the US. And as I wait to get myself a copy, I'm going to buy every Dixie Chicks album. Oh, I already have.

Well, with Democrat victories in the recent elections, I certainly hope that we are seeing the beginning of the end of the reign of the biggest tyrant of the century. America and the world will certainly be a better place.

Here are links to a few videos:

The protest song 'Not ready to make nice'

Dixie Chicks Destruction in Bossier, LA

Dixie Chicks "Shut Up and Sing"

"Shut up and sing" trailer

Trailer and clips

Demand and supply

And it was all yellow...

Coconut Hill, Mahabalipuram

Venus

A babe called Jasmine

A body to die for.




Curves that no supermodel can match.




Willing to perform just about anywhere,
at just a moment's notice.




In bed,




on the beach,




in the car,




at a party,




on a stage...




Am I a lucky man or what?




Meet Jasmine from the Takamine family.

Mahabalipuram, a picture tour

50 km from Chennai. A beautiful town by the sea. Mahabs, as younger Chennaiites call it.

The Indian economy

The Indian economy is going in the right direction say the Government and their financial wizards. They've got stock market figures and other calculations to support their claim. When however I see a man having to use a sidewalk to rest his tired body, it troubles me. It troubles me that in a country where skyscrapers of glass and steel are being raised everywhere, there are human beings who cannot afford a place called home.

So then, do we measure financial health by numbers that tell you how the rich are getting richer? Or should we put a scale to how well this country looks after its poor?