It is very often we hear the spiels – “Our key success factor is our culture!”; “There is something wrong with our culture”; “We want people who will fit into our culture!” While these are more like the clichés and banal statements, they also present an interesting cue point to understand the organization.
Culture is like the pulse of an organization. It cannot by itself give you a lot of information – slow, fast, normal, weak et.al. But it is an opportunity to peek into the portals of the organization. It helps you to ask questions to delve deeper into the institutional psyche at the moment – what ails it and what could be the probable causes. With the mindset of organizations moving from the ‘asset based’ to ‘people based outlook’, this discussion populates your guesses and surmises about the organization and helps in ‘intelligently’ drafting questions during your interactions.
Edgar Schein the ‘supreme guru’ of culture defines it
“A pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems.”
“…a basic set of assumptions that defines for us what we pay attention to, what things mean, and how to react emotionally to what is going on, and what actions to take in various kinds of situations.”
“…is neither innate nor purely driven by strategy, rather culture is learned and therefore can be changed.”
The interesting thing about culture is that – it can never be clearly defined by the people bound by it – difficult to ‘see the forest through the trees’. The task of the consultant is to ask questions and understand the connections between the various symptoms and draw a palette of link diagrams that effectively helps one to boil down to couple of causal factors.
All the tools that we use in the normal context – Culture web analysis, Social network analysis are triggered to categorize and affinitize various issues and present to you a diagnosis chart that broadly describes the organizational alignment to various people and strategic issues.
Hence the end document of a culture diagnosis should be like the diagnosis chart of an executive health check up – comments and readings on a sundry of data points which enable us to read and mull into the ‘What next ?’ strategy with the client
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Human Capital Series - Introduction
Having sold ‘knowledge and experience’ through this last professional decade, I have encountered sundry of material on the ‘art of selling’ including the highly acclaimed and read publications on what makes ‘rain makers’. Moreover during the academic stint at B School we of course had an entire discipline of Marketing teaching us the finer art and also preparing us for the never ending battle at the corporate battlefield. What I remember from those days is mostly the skullduggery of the plethora of case studies and anecdotes and some guiding principles that I have modified and used to some success and lot of failures at the market place.
Intriguingly interesting has been my stint of selling human capital services across the national geography. ‘People issues’ and Organization Behavior were a one credit course in my entire selection of courses at the B School. But over the years, personally I have found work in this space the most challenging, fulfilling and engaging. The more intricate and esoteric travail is selling these services. I always found it squeamish to even ask “Do you have any people issues?” I am sure the ubiquitous reply from anyone right from the CPO to your laundry boy would be – “Don’t we all?” In this rather naïve or ordinary repartee lies the essence – All of us individually, in a group or in an organization are bound by principles and rules that the environment prescribes on us. Our successes are based on the efficient maneuvering of ourselves through these labyrinthine routes. At each bend on this road is the enquiry post where we seek advice – The talking post may be an elderly person, a psychologist, a psychiatrist or a human capital advisor / consultant.
So what these animals – human capital advisors- do in organizations? More often than not, people policies in organizations tend to fall on the ‘black spots’ of the organizational outlay. While strategic issues like structuring and target setting remain on the top of the memory of the CXO, some of the root issues on the people front do not present themselves on the same level just because they are shrouded by multifarious factors and each issue has a spin much like the locus of a toroidal plane! The very nature of these issues requires a Socratic mode of questioning to unravel them. Having said this, I must apologize if this area suddenly sounds like rocket science. As all areas, there are simple and interesting principles here which make it interesting, exhilarating and totally engaging.
The broad palette of these ideas and musings has led to a few governing ideas which I use time and again. The following series intends to traverse some of these areas and explore ideas and experiences, test various principles empirically and provoke some thinking and tickle the grey matter…The other reason for penning these down is to articulate and understand issues and discuss what are the signs one needs to be cautious of. The broad format will be to look out for the symptoms and understand their connections of the systemic pathology.
Intriguingly interesting has been my stint of selling human capital services across the national geography. ‘People issues’ and Organization Behavior were a one credit course in my entire selection of courses at the B School. But over the years, personally I have found work in this space the most challenging, fulfilling and engaging. The more intricate and esoteric travail is selling these services. I always found it squeamish to even ask “Do you have any people issues?” I am sure the ubiquitous reply from anyone right from the CPO to your laundry boy would be – “Don’t we all?” In this rather naïve or ordinary repartee lies the essence – All of us individually, in a group or in an organization are bound by principles and rules that the environment prescribes on us. Our successes are based on the efficient maneuvering of ourselves through these labyrinthine routes. At each bend on this road is the enquiry post where we seek advice – The talking post may be an elderly person, a psychologist, a psychiatrist or a human capital advisor / consultant.
So what these animals – human capital advisors- do in organizations? More often than not, people policies in organizations tend to fall on the ‘black spots’ of the organizational outlay. While strategic issues like structuring and target setting remain on the top of the memory of the CXO, some of the root issues on the people front do not present themselves on the same level just because they are shrouded by multifarious factors and each issue has a spin much like the locus of a toroidal plane! The very nature of these issues requires a Socratic mode of questioning to unravel them. Having said this, I must apologize if this area suddenly sounds like rocket science. As all areas, there are simple and interesting principles here which make it interesting, exhilarating and totally engaging.
The broad palette of these ideas and musings has led to a few governing ideas which I use time and again. The following series intends to traverse some of these areas and explore ideas and experiences, test various principles empirically and provoke some thinking and tickle the grey matter…The other reason for penning these down is to articulate and understand issues and discuss what are the signs one needs to be cautious of. The broad format will be to look out for the symptoms and understand their connections of the systemic pathology.
Monday, February 23, 2009
And the award night goes to ....
Ok! I take all the besmirches on the movie back and ignore the ‘bloopers’ which were omitted by the Oscar winning editing department. Poverty porn/tourism or regaling dystopia – all complains and shenanigans have been vehemently discarded by the 5810 strong jury. There were some lovely scenes which will be etched in our memories forever. The kids looking dapper in the designer attires, suddenly gorgeous Freida Pinto, ‘little boy’ Rahman in a black Sherwani, a shy Vikas Swarup in the background, Anil Kapoor swaying the ‘golden man’ as his own and the magnanimity of the producer who made the podium look like a party while accepting the award. Eight Oscars and the issue is settled. Let us move on …
It was one of those days when there were minimum surprises at the announcements at Kodak theatre. Some may argue that Sean Penn sneaked the rug from under Mickey Rourke’s feet but we all know that Sean Penn has been an academy favorite and some of Mickey Rourke’s antics would not have earned him too many fans in the past and the Academy has long memories. Poor Jim Carrey is still a pariah when it comes to Academy Awards. I saw ‘Milk’ yesterday and really liked the movie and the superlative acting – as Robert De Niro said ‘Sean is never in his movies – it is always the character - whether it is a Sam, a Milk or Dead Man walking!’( Secretly let me confess, this is fifth time – I see a movie on the eve of the awards ceremony and the actor wins Best Actor in a leading role – As Good As it Gets , Training Day, Mystic River, There will be Blood… )
Like the Oscar acceptance speech, I could not resist making a few notes and words of mention to squeeze in before the ‘limiting tune’ plays again …
Kate Winslet, finally overcame the thirteen year curse and embellished her already awesome filmograhy with the golden statuette on her sixth nomination. If anyone has any realistic expectation of even coming close to the ‘15 and still running’ record of Meryl Streep – it is her. Like Meryl each movie of hers is like a once in a lifetime performance. Kudos – We hope to see more of you!
Penelope - for making it big Hollywood with the accent and getting over the glam doll innuendo and some mindblowing original stuff in perhaps the most fought category of the evening. Finally you emerged ‘the woman on top’!
Simon for writing Slumdog Millionaire from an otherwise trite and average story (sorry Vikas ! Much as I like your writing ‘SM’ is a Simon Beaufoy creation!)
Antony Dod Mantle – for teaching us that there are visages and hues of India that make it starkly different from any other place in the world. And a silent prayer that there will be bolder attempts behind the camera in our cinema !
Heath – May your soul rest in peace! Perhaps not for the untimely death, the others could have given a run for the award – nonetheless sadly the grand finale of one who could have been up among the legends of all time. Perhaps you are already there !
The brilliant format of actors coming on stage to introduce the nominees of this year was amazing. I hope our own Filmfare and other organizers copy this remarkably wistful and delicious idea. I hope this is here to stay – listening to Sissy Spacek applauding Anne Hathaway was itself like an award bestowed !Finally for Hugh Jackman for being one of the most underplayed hosts at the Academy Awards who flitted and sailed in and out effortlessly, making this perhaps one of the most punctiliously coordinated Awards functions I have seen !
It was one of those days when there were minimum surprises at the announcements at Kodak theatre. Some may argue that Sean Penn sneaked the rug from under Mickey Rourke’s feet but we all know that Sean Penn has been an academy favorite and some of Mickey Rourke’s antics would not have earned him too many fans in the past and the Academy has long memories. Poor Jim Carrey is still a pariah when it comes to Academy Awards. I saw ‘Milk’ yesterday and really liked the movie and the superlative acting – as Robert De Niro said ‘Sean is never in his movies – it is always the character - whether it is a Sam, a Milk or Dead Man walking!’( Secretly let me confess, this is fifth time – I see a movie on the eve of the awards ceremony and the actor wins Best Actor in a leading role – As Good As it Gets , Training Day, Mystic River, There will be Blood… )
Like the Oscar acceptance speech, I could not resist making a few notes and words of mention to squeeze in before the ‘limiting tune’ plays again …
Kate Winslet, finally overcame the thirteen year curse and embellished her already awesome filmograhy with the golden statuette on her sixth nomination. If anyone has any realistic expectation of even coming close to the ‘15 and still running’ record of Meryl Streep – it is her. Like Meryl each movie of hers is like a once in a lifetime performance. Kudos – We hope to see more of you!
Penelope - for making it big Hollywood with the accent and getting over the glam doll innuendo and some mindblowing original stuff in perhaps the most fought category of the evening. Finally you emerged ‘the woman on top’!
Simon for writing Slumdog Millionaire from an otherwise trite and average story (sorry Vikas ! Much as I like your writing ‘SM’ is a Simon Beaufoy creation!)
Antony Dod Mantle – for teaching us that there are visages and hues of India that make it starkly different from any other place in the world. And a silent prayer that there will be bolder attempts behind the camera in our cinema !
Heath – May your soul rest in peace! Perhaps not for the untimely death, the others could have given a run for the award – nonetheless sadly the grand finale of one who could have been up among the legends of all time. Perhaps you are already there !
The brilliant format of actors coming on stage to introduce the nominees of this year was amazing. I hope our own Filmfare and other organizers copy this remarkably wistful and delicious idea. I hope this is here to stay – listening to Sissy Spacek applauding Anne Hathaway was itself like an award bestowed !Finally for Hugh Jackman for being one of the most underplayed hosts at the Academy Awards who flitted and sailed in and out effortlessly, making this perhaps one of the most punctiliously coordinated Awards functions I have seen !
Sunday, February 15, 2009
All the hubbub about the pub !
What people do for a little airtime in the name of political propoganda ! The phrase Ram Sena has taken the infamous innuendo and just blemished the original folflore for years to come. While some channels are taking media responsibility to new avenues like the Greenathon, we have a motley crew of disgruntled and queer pack of mendicants who subscribe goons to their version of 'society cleansing'.
My first tryst with a similar group was when we in first year of engineering school heard that couple of our batch mates were roughed up a gang of seniors calling themselves 'Bajrang Dal' and had censored all activities of our the Literary and Debating Society which indulged in 'anti- ethical' activities like debating, JAM, book reading which encouraged 'untoward' interactions of boys and girls. The issue was immediately laid to rest with our hero 'Princi' pulling the whole group up and sending them off on a two week suspension !
Feb 14th was also celebrated amongst us friends but for a much different reason from Geoffrey Chaucer, St. Valentine or courtly love - Feb 14th is the death anniversary of P G Wodehouse and as Wodehouse buffs we had to get together with a cuppa and dog earred book off the shelf and one of us would read the 'ever sensible' Jeeves out to the others and share our Wodehouse jokes and phrases. Wodehouse has been the greatest purveyor of pabulum for me then and now and is infamously responsible for my amateur writing forays.
When we had larger purses to gloat over, the cuppa turned into a pint size beer bottle and the cheeky cocktails and our 'gaggle of friends' invaded the - the very old English establishment - The pub ! True, some of the discussions were curtailed by the excess inebriation of a group member and the odd interest in a more serious topic like the latest Madonna album or the Van Halen poster, but we were never marched out of any establishment by the 'tyrannical aunts' !
While I never intend to glorify excess drinking - the current threat on the pubs amuse me. Has all the national issues become so prosaic that political mileage needs to be had from some wayward moral policing - and who are they trying to recruit and what are they trying to achieve through this excess show of tomfoolery ?" The Western habits have corupted our minds .." quoted a senior politician - So what ? 'The very word 'corruption' here is a state of opinion and if a twenty five year old decides that he wants two swigs of beer with his female collegaues - it is bloody business whether he chooses a pub , a friend's home or his own apartment ! It is not anyone's right to disenfranchise our friend of his constitutional right and curtail his frisson.
My first tryst with a similar group was when we in first year of engineering school heard that couple of our batch mates were roughed up a gang of seniors calling themselves 'Bajrang Dal' and had censored all activities of our the Literary and Debating Society which indulged in 'anti- ethical' activities like debating, JAM, book reading which encouraged 'untoward' interactions of boys and girls. The issue was immediately laid to rest with our hero 'Princi' pulling the whole group up and sending them off on a two week suspension !
Feb 14th was also celebrated amongst us friends but for a much different reason from Geoffrey Chaucer, St. Valentine or courtly love - Feb 14th is the death anniversary of P G Wodehouse and as Wodehouse buffs we had to get together with a cuppa and dog earred book off the shelf and one of us would read the 'ever sensible' Jeeves out to the others and share our Wodehouse jokes and phrases. Wodehouse has been the greatest purveyor of pabulum for me then and now and is infamously responsible for my amateur writing forays.
When we had larger purses to gloat over, the cuppa turned into a pint size beer bottle and the cheeky cocktails and our 'gaggle of friends' invaded the - the very old English establishment - The pub ! True, some of the discussions were curtailed by the excess inebriation of a group member and the odd interest in a more serious topic like the latest Madonna album or the Van Halen poster, but we were never marched out of any establishment by the 'tyrannical aunts' !
While I never intend to glorify excess drinking - the current threat on the pubs amuse me. Has all the national issues become so prosaic that political mileage needs to be had from some wayward moral policing - and who are they trying to recruit and what are they trying to achieve through this excess show of tomfoolery ?" The Western habits have corupted our minds .." quoted a senior politician - So what ? 'The very word 'corruption' here is a state of opinion and if a twenty five year old decides that he wants two swigs of beer with his female collegaues - it is bloody business whether he chooses a pub , a friend's home or his own apartment ! It is not anyone's right to disenfranchise our friend of his constitutional right and curtail his frisson.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
BCCI officials ask - What Recession ?
The scene was one we pass off with a ‘nothing in particular attitude’. But a late train and ennui in general, induced a not too casual perusal of the station premises. A group of filthy smelling urchins had crowded around the edge of the platform and were looking with immense glee skywards. A ball of thread in the hands of two of them explained the laughter and the enthusiasm. There were two distant spots in the horizon, which move in random abandon. The dialect was an incomprehensible nasal tone punctuated with the shrill of whistles. But the exuberance and the joy of the toddlers were evident. At least someone was not bothered about the late running trains and the herd of flies, which seemed to be everywhere.
The sun set and the group dispersed in parts. There came in the lights and another bunch of ‘enlightened’ mosquitoes. A chaiwallah with a soiled or perhaps rusted kettle came along. A cup of tea as a companion didn’t seem to be a bad proposition. Ignoring the package, I audaciously asked for a cup. The tea was not bad at all. “ What time is it, babuji?” enquired the host dressed in tatters. On hearing the time, the chaiwallah hurried along with an urgency our trains seemed to have forgotten.
A voice from nowhere announced that ‘my train’ was indefinitely late. No apologies, only a silent mockery of the passengers, who had by now unpacked on the floor of the railway station and were settling down to their rigmarole. There seemed to be no panic and the quietude was alarming.
After an unsuccessful bout with the hordes of mosquitoes, I got up to stretch a little. The ambience was one of calm. The officer at the enquiry had removed his shirt and was scratching his armpits. There was a leaking faucet under a banner ‘Drinking Water ’ and a seemingly fleas stricken dog was lapping at the puddle formed below. A group of ladies were fanning themselves with their sari ends and seemed to have a lively discussion on. There was a cow defecating at the edge of the platform caring a damn about the trains, the passengers or the station.
“Saabji, latest evening newspaper”, I looked behind to see one of those urchins, now with a bundle of paper under his arms. “Cricket officials ask – What recession?” reported the boy with the authority of those roadside ‘cure all medicine’ salesmen. I shelled out the barter and picked up a newspaper. There was an air of importance around the boy similar the midwife who reaches the king to tell him about the birth of a new baby boy.
The IPL auction was all over the pages. Flintoff and Peitersen posted astronomical amounts under the auction hammer bettering the record our desi Dhoni. In these times of recession, a Bangladeshi player got the price of lifetime and now is the richest sportsman in his country. Preity, Juhi, Nina and now Shilpa Shetty made the proceedings much more glamorous and there was confetti and celebrations everywhere. India, it seems, will now be revered as a force to reckon with.
What an exhilarating moment! I should share the news with the others, I thought. The urchins will be delighted to hear that now Indians can feel rich. The chaiwallah, I’m sure will distribute free tea on this auspicious occasion. The officer will for once perhaps wear his shirt to ‘dress’ for the occasion. The ladies can sing some patriotic songs to illuminate the event. The cow will of course smile bovinely and shit in ‘peace’. As for me I decided to put the entire issue of late trains behind me; after all how can one crib about a few late trains when the country is busy beating recession on the cricket field!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Elegy on the death of the engineer !
Technology has invaded the lives of billions with an unseen ferocity. Social strictures have changed and so have the ethos and the codes of daily conduct. In this deluge, the most confused are the technocrats of yesterday and the budding engineers of tomorrow…
Change has turned into the unwanted salesman who pops in at the oddest of hours with an infuriating roster of products. What is more frustrating is that the products are attractive, lucrative but beyond the reach ! Technology mocks at the portals of every institution and the resource centers and libraries resemble Jurassic parks and historical museums. With genetic codes of the most wanted classified columns ushering in avant-garde, engineering colleges of today look blankly at their mediocre armory and the ‘now-not-exploding’ ammunition. Four years in these walls students bandy words of an extinct civilization and learn a trade which finds no buyer. At the end, a confused ensemble walk out into an unforgiving world equipped with nothing other than an extra cell of ‘common sense’. Four years of rigor and hardships and now he has to pick up another set of skills that are alien to his education.
The best at the craft think of when they can do their MBA and pursue the ‘big bucks’. The pragmatic ones have their eyes glued onto the next software company and have ‘when do I get to go abroad ?’ brooding like a Damocles Sword on their minds. For the once who also tried and failed the only option is to get an engineering job in some organization which will treat them with the disdain of a stepmother reminding them each day that they are there due to the dearth of better options !
True, the brick and mortar needs a set of hands to make concrete jungles and labyrinthe circuitry, but the engineer behind is the blue collared layman of today. While he values years of ‘experience’ and working , enter the geek of today half as old as he is and twice as current. Speaking a language foreign to the engineers he even plans to retire by forty with a fortune unheard of to the mind which turns to the tune of worn out gears and unlubricated grey matter…
Calamity dawns even though a little late then the beginning of a quest of unlearning and erasing a knowledge block which was bread and butter of a generation long past. Crowding into blocks of new avenues, a sojourn into the unknown embarks. With the curiosity of Alice and the impetuousness of the Cheshire cat , the fight goes on with the worst nightmare of all – Unemployability !
Change has turned into the unwanted salesman who pops in at the oddest of hours with an infuriating roster of products. What is more frustrating is that the products are attractive, lucrative but beyond the reach ! Technology mocks at the portals of every institution and the resource centers and libraries resemble Jurassic parks and historical museums. With genetic codes of the most wanted classified columns ushering in avant-garde, engineering colleges of today look blankly at their mediocre armory and the ‘now-not-exploding’ ammunition. Four years in these walls students bandy words of an extinct civilization and learn a trade which finds no buyer. At the end, a confused ensemble walk out into an unforgiving world equipped with nothing other than an extra cell of ‘common sense’. Four years of rigor and hardships and now he has to pick up another set of skills that are alien to his education.
The best at the craft think of when they can do their MBA and pursue the ‘big bucks’. The pragmatic ones have their eyes glued onto the next software company and have ‘when do I get to go abroad ?’ brooding like a Damocles Sword on their minds. For the once who also tried and failed the only option is to get an engineering job in some organization which will treat them with the disdain of a stepmother reminding them each day that they are there due to the dearth of better options !
True, the brick and mortar needs a set of hands to make concrete jungles and labyrinthe circuitry, but the engineer behind is the blue collared layman of today. While he values years of ‘experience’ and working , enter the geek of today half as old as he is and twice as current. Speaking a language foreign to the engineers he even plans to retire by forty with a fortune unheard of to the mind which turns to the tune of worn out gears and unlubricated grey matter…
Calamity dawns even though a little late then the beginning of a quest of unlearning and erasing a knowledge block which was bread and butter of a generation long past. Crowding into blocks of new avenues, a sojourn into the unknown embarks. With the curiosity of Alice and the impetuousness of the Cheshire cat , the fight goes on with the worst nightmare of all – Unemployability !
Friday, February 6, 2009
Understanding Art – The Pressure Cooker
Some things amuse you as much as they baffle you. My daughter always had this fascination for the pressure cooker – She would be excited at the whistling sound and a wee bit scared though. The first sound she attempted which had nothing to do with the gradual buildup of her vocabulary was a hissing sound which we interpret as an impersonation of the pressure cooker whistle. Interesting this sound is also lavishly used for other purposes. This is also the sound of pee which we try to orchestrate when she sits on her potty time and again with the zest of cheer leaders dancing to invite their favorite team on to the gridiron. The most amusing moment is of course when she tries to make the sound herself - there is immense glee in her eyes and naughty quirk around her lips and then the tongue conjures into a semicircle and the air column is excited to produce a vibration which comes out to the audible ear as a hiss.
Interesting when she started to scribble on the hapless walls and every book in my collection, she chose to draw a pressure cooker … Every time she mischievously wields a pen it is to draw this very same inanimate object !
Interestingly she always chooses the top view. Having seen these myriad times, I sat on the web to interpret what this means in terms of art. A rather inane task but I was determined to crack the code behind each of these ‘old C scrolls’. The chase began by concentrating on the art forms of the twentieth century – trusting that he must have been influenced by what she sees around the house and the in her ambience which is bridled with etched of modernism as we understand.
Since most of the century has been marked by clear focus on abstract art in which pastels, lines and figures have always been independent of the subject matter.
Did it have anything to do with Fauvism ? There were moods of ‘les fauves’ – wild scribbles and there were also traces of the remarkable alacrity and pace of most such works. But then she never tried to mix colors into the boundaries of the art and let the lines define the picture.
Cubism? All the pictures were single dimensional and a immediate representation of the picture she sees in the perpendicular plane. There were never the multiple dimensions or interpretation of various views cluttering the diagram. So I ruled out analytical cubism and synthetic cubism without further thought.
Futurism? Definitely not. None of the various forms suggested movement or energy and she never attempted to represent the steam from the nozzle.
I ruled out Orphism when I saw the works against the back drop of the Eiffel Tower with pronounced taste for color rather than the forms.
Neo – Plasticism was exciting with its stress on lines and even audacious representation of the male and female lines. But her drawings had the blend of curvaceous lines rather than the defined straight vertical and horizontal lines.
Expressionism seemed a likely explanation – The whole picture was expressive. The place occupied by figures or objects and the empty spaces had also profound proportions
After this pensive cookie cutter syndrome where I tried to fit the simple picture into multiple forms of art – I decided to let the artist grow from being the toddler and figure out what she scribbles which are clearly nothing but the virtual impression of what sees and retains after her visual senses are out of direct sight of the object.
So now I let her scribble more pressure cookers each time with a sense of déjà vu and the joy of having created another work of art.
Interesting when she started to scribble on the hapless walls and every book in my collection, she chose to draw a pressure cooker … Every time she mischievously wields a pen it is to draw this very same inanimate object !
Interestingly she always chooses the top view. Having seen these myriad times, I sat on the web to interpret what this means in terms of art. A rather inane task but I was determined to crack the code behind each of these ‘old C scrolls’. The chase began by concentrating on the art forms of the twentieth century – trusting that he must have been influenced by what she sees around the house and the in her ambience which is bridled with etched of modernism as we understand.
Since most of the century has been marked by clear focus on abstract art in which pastels, lines and figures have always been independent of the subject matter.
Did it have anything to do with Fauvism ? There were moods of ‘les fauves’ – wild scribbles and there were also traces of the remarkable alacrity and pace of most such works. But then she never tried to mix colors into the boundaries of the art and let the lines define the picture.
Cubism? All the pictures were single dimensional and a immediate representation of the picture she sees in the perpendicular plane. There were never the multiple dimensions or interpretation of various views cluttering the diagram. So I ruled out analytical cubism and synthetic cubism without further thought.
Futurism? Definitely not. None of the various forms suggested movement or energy and she never attempted to represent the steam from the nozzle.
I ruled out Orphism when I saw the works against the back drop of the Eiffel Tower with pronounced taste for color rather than the forms.
Neo – Plasticism was exciting with its stress on lines and even audacious representation of the male and female lines. But her drawings had the blend of curvaceous lines rather than the defined straight vertical and horizontal lines.
Expressionism seemed a likely explanation – The whole picture was expressive. The place occupied by figures or objects and the empty spaces had also profound proportions
After this pensive cookie cutter syndrome where I tried to fit the simple picture into multiple forms of art – I decided to let the artist grow from being the toddler and figure out what she scribbles which are clearly nothing but the virtual impression of what sees and retains after her visual senses are out of direct sight of the object.
So now I let her scribble more pressure cookers each time with a sense of déjà vu and the joy of having created another work of art.
The Awards season...
Back to more things prosaic and quotidian. I watched a lot of movies and read a lot of books in 2008 - perhaps as much as I used to do during college days where we were given a 'must see' movie list by our Quiz coach and the English class needed a review every fortnight. So a quick tour of the movies I saw and savoured and some which I just could not watch...
1. Oye Lucky Lucky Oye - I think it was one of the best or perhaps the best movie I saw last year ! Strange , but I just loved the movie - be it the camera, the accents, the acting and of course Abhay Deol. Move over everyone - this guy is right there ! It was the first movie I saw of his and I really enjoyed it. Now this is a Deol who can act ! But secretly I have always been a great fan of Dharam paaji too ( I still see Chupke Chupke & Sholay whenever it is playing ! )
2. Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi - The worst movie I have seen this year - Mr. Khan, I have decided not to visit the theatres for amy of your movies again! I never liked your 'acting' skills but this was the cake !You may be Baadshah or whatever shit, but as far as I am concerned "You are just one hell of a fortunate cookie "
3. Ghajini - OK, it was better than the Tamil version and that itself is saying a lot as Surya is as classy an actor as Aamir. Aamir has done the fab job and now a benchmark on 8 pack abs is sure going to give his compatriots nightmares. He is truly the best ! The discussion is over.
4. Rock On - Different and a good acting ensemble and neat movie. Hopefully it will pave way to some decent scripts to the movies.
5. Wednesday - Good ! I don't normally get surprises when I watch movies but Pandeyji - the twist was good and Naseer Saab - Tussi thop ho ! I watched it on DVD and watched it twice back to back.
6. Aamir - Absolute surprise of a movie. I never knew some of these Ekta Kapoor employees can act - This Rajeev guy was just right for the role and of course with a script and background score like that - you can't get it wrong
7. Jaane Tu ... OK, maybe I am too old for this gelato and chuski - though again I loved Naseer Saab on the wall !
8. Jodha Akbar - Well, a very hardworking movie ! You know the kind of class mate in school who would slog through out the year and then again burn the midnight oil on the exam eve too and chew all his finger nails and look nerdy and be the teacher's favorite. Well for me that was Jodha Akbar - But music - ARR rocks !
9. Tashan - Sorry no review ! I actually slept in the theatre inspite of my wife nudging me throughout to control my gentle musical snore !
10. Roadside Romeo - My daughter's ( She will 4 years in Feb) favorite movie and hence we went to the theatre and dutifully bought the DVD and saw it more than 20 times ! But frankly I loved Javed Jaffery's bull dog Anna ! He is perhaps the most underrated, unlucky brilliant star - imagine we have brain dead turkeys who are more popular him.
11. Dostana - Not for me ! I did not see too much humor in it and it takes more than yellow underwear, John Abraham and svelte Priyanka to drag me to the movies.
12. Fashion - OK , now the Madhur Bhandarkar style is getting monotonous and trite. Though I sure did some good performances from the female stars
My film awards for the year
Best Screen Play : Wednesday
Best Original Story : Wednesday
Best Musical Score : A.R.Rahman - Jodhaa Akbar
Best Lyrics : Prasoon Joshi - Guzarish
Best Art Direction : Jodhaa Akbar
Best Costume Design : Jodhaa Akbar & Oye Lucky Lucky Oye
Best Cinematography : Aamir
Best Animated feature film : Roadside Romeo
Best Film editing : Aamir
Best Regional Language Film : Kadha Parayumbol ( Malayalam - Original of 'Billu Barber')
Best Actor ( Female ) Debut : Asin Thottumkal
Best Actor ( Male ) Debut: Farhan Akthar
Best Actor in a villanous role : Ashwini Khalsekar in Phoonk
Best Actor in a comic role : Javed Jaffery in Roadside Romeo
Best Actor ( Female ) in a supporting role : Shahana Goswami in Rock On & Kangana Ranaut in Fashion
Best Actor ( Male ) in a supporting role : Ravi Jhankal in Welcome to Sajjanpur
Best Actor ( Female ) in a leading role : Priyanka Chopra in Fashion
Best Actor ( Male ) in a leading role : Naseeruddin Shah in Wednesday
Best Direction : Dipankar Banerjee & Neeraj Pandey ( Consolation prize to Ashutosh Gowarikar :-))
Best Picture : Wednesday & Oye Lucky Lucky Oye
Life time achievement award : Gulzaar
Special Jury Award : Abhay Deol for Oye Lucky Lucky Oye
1. Oye Lucky Lucky Oye - I think it was one of the best or perhaps the best movie I saw last year ! Strange , but I just loved the movie - be it the camera, the accents, the acting and of course Abhay Deol. Move over everyone - this guy is right there ! It was the first movie I saw of his and I really enjoyed it. Now this is a Deol who can act ! But secretly I have always been a great fan of Dharam paaji too ( I still see Chupke Chupke & Sholay whenever it is playing ! )
2. Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi - The worst movie I have seen this year - Mr. Khan, I have decided not to visit the theatres for amy of your movies again! I never liked your 'acting' skills but this was the cake !You may be Baadshah or whatever shit, but as far as I am concerned "You are just one hell of a fortunate cookie "
3. Ghajini - OK, it was better than the Tamil version and that itself is saying a lot as Surya is as classy an actor as Aamir. Aamir has done the fab job and now a benchmark on 8 pack abs is sure going to give his compatriots nightmares. He is truly the best ! The discussion is over.
4. Rock On - Different and a good acting ensemble and neat movie. Hopefully it will pave way to some decent scripts to the movies.
5. Wednesday - Good ! I don't normally get surprises when I watch movies but Pandeyji - the twist was good and Naseer Saab - Tussi thop ho ! I watched it on DVD and watched it twice back to back.
6. Aamir - Absolute surprise of a movie. I never knew some of these Ekta Kapoor employees can act - This Rajeev guy was just right for the role and of course with a script and background score like that - you can't get it wrong
7. Jaane Tu ... OK, maybe I am too old for this gelato and chuski - though again I loved Naseer Saab on the wall !
8. Jodha Akbar - Well, a very hardworking movie ! You know the kind of class mate in school who would slog through out the year and then again burn the midnight oil on the exam eve too and chew all his finger nails and look nerdy and be the teacher's favorite. Well for me that was Jodha Akbar - But music - ARR rocks !
9. Tashan - Sorry no review ! I actually slept in the theatre inspite of my wife nudging me throughout to control my gentle musical snore !
10. Roadside Romeo - My daughter's ( She will 4 years in Feb) favorite movie and hence we went to the theatre and dutifully bought the DVD and saw it more than 20 times ! But frankly I loved Javed Jaffery's bull dog Anna ! He is perhaps the most underrated, unlucky brilliant star - imagine we have brain dead turkeys who are more popular him.
11. Dostana - Not for me ! I did not see too much humor in it and it takes more than yellow underwear, John Abraham and svelte Priyanka to drag me to the movies.
12. Fashion - OK , now the Madhur Bhandarkar style is getting monotonous and trite. Though I sure did some good performances from the female stars
My film awards for the year
Best Screen Play : Wednesday
Best Original Story : Wednesday
Best Musical Score : A.R.Rahman - Jodhaa Akbar
Best Lyrics : Prasoon Joshi - Guzarish
Best Art Direction : Jodhaa Akbar
Best Costume Design : Jodhaa Akbar & Oye Lucky Lucky Oye
Best Cinematography : Aamir
Best Animated feature film : Roadside Romeo
Best Film editing : Aamir
Best Regional Language Film : Kadha Parayumbol ( Malayalam - Original of 'Billu Barber')
Best Actor ( Female ) Debut : Asin Thottumkal
Best Actor ( Male ) Debut: Farhan Akthar
Best Actor in a villanous role : Ashwini Khalsekar in Phoonk
Best Actor in a comic role : Javed Jaffery in Roadside Romeo
Best Actor ( Female ) in a supporting role : Shahana Goswami in Rock On & Kangana Ranaut in Fashion
Best Actor ( Male ) in a supporting role : Ravi Jhankal in Welcome to Sajjanpur
Best Actor ( Female ) in a leading role : Priyanka Chopra in Fashion
Best Actor ( Male ) in a leading role : Naseeruddin Shah in Wednesday
Best Direction : Dipankar Banerjee & Neeraj Pandey ( Consolation prize to Ashutosh Gowarikar :-))
Best Picture : Wednesday & Oye Lucky Lucky Oye
Life time achievement award : Gulzaar
Special Jury Award : Abhay Deol for Oye Lucky Lucky Oye
Living beyond of the hype of 'Slumdog Millionaire'
Well now we are getting bored Agreed that the movie was Ok and but there is more to life than the Oscar expectations of this movie ! Check this out - ( I subscribe to the online version of NY times - just as a language reckoner rather than anything else and to read movie and book reviews ) one of the critics wrote "..Western film critics instructed the laity to 'see Slumdog Millionaire in order to better understand this benighted Asian metropolis".And, despite the temptation of easy available pirated DVDs, I waited for the official movie release, hoping for the full 'movie-going' experience.
Well, the positives first -
The kids ( especially Ayush Khedekar) was fab ! Lovleeen Tandon take a bow for selecting these kids. I liked Dev Patel - given he is a little goofy here and there but he does have his moments. It is shot very well - Anthony Dod Mantle's disarmingly honest camera and India has been captured the way Mira Nair did in Salaam Bombay and Monsoon Wedding. It does have a Dickensian flavor and one leaves the movies feeling all is well in Jamal's life unlike some of the arthouse stuff where we walk out of the cinema even more frustrated and feeling helpless ! Simon Beaufoy's screenplay is far more superior than Vikas Swarup's novel which I found very trite and much like a one trick pony - every chapter has one answer !
The bloopers are many - you have already added some and let me also add some more
1. Which govt primary school in India teaches Dumas ?
2. Towards the end when Don song is blaring in the background in Javed Bhai's den - Kareena is dancing to the tunes of Yuva ?!
3. Jamal knows Samuel Colt invented the revolver because Salim's got a gun ? Since when did Mumbai goons leave 'khoda', 'samaan' and switch to 'Colt' ?
4. Since when did call centres serving customers in Scotland keep telephone directories of Indian cities accessible at the click of a button, where mobile phones are listed in telephone directories ?
5. How does the blind kid 'recognise' Jamal ?
Having said all this regarding the ever continuing debate about romanticising of poverty of amchi New York - this is what a western reviewer wrote on how the West would have reacted on a similar movie based in US - " Say an Indian director travelled to New Orleans for a few months to film a movie about Jamal Martin, an impoverished African American who lost his home in Hurricane Katrina, who once had a promising basketball career, but who -- following a drive-by shooting -- now walks with a permanent limp, whose father is in jail for selling drugs, whose mother is addicted to crack cocaine, whose younger sister was killed by gang-violence, whose brother was arrested by corrupt cops, whose first born child has sickle cell anaemia, and so on. The movie would be widely panned and laughed out of theatres."
Ok, if 5810 film aficionados finally decide that this movie needs an Oscar, I will shut my trap and change my spiel and start liking the film all over and meticulously find more things to praise it.
Saw 'Luck by chance' yesterday. Despite my irritated daughter who totally got bored and I had to walk out seven times with her for excuses of popcorn, Samosa, ice cream and susu , I still liked it. Maybe it could have been edited better and made a little shorter and the implausibe last five minutes where everything is about Konkan SenSharma who was just one of lesser characters in the movie till then - it is still worth one dekko !
Well, the positives first -
The kids ( especially Ayush Khedekar) was fab ! Lovleeen Tandon take a bow for selecting these kids. I liked Dev Patel - given he is a little goofy here and there but he does have his moments. It is shot very well - Anthony Dod Mantle's disarmingly honest camera and India has been captured the way Mira Nair did in Salaam Bombay and Monsoon Wedding. It does have a Dickensian flavor and one leaves the movies feeling all is well in Jamal's life unlike some of the arthouse stuff where we walk out of the cinema even more frustrated and feeling helpless ! Simon Beaufoy's screenplay is far more superior than Vikas Swarup's novel which I found very trite and much like a one trick pony - every chapter has one answer !
The bloopers are many - you have already added some and let me also add some more
1. Which govt primary school in India teaches Dumas ?
2. Towards the end when Don song is blaring in the background in Javed Bhai's den - Kareena is dancing to the tunes of Yuva ?!
3. Jamal knows Samuel Colt invented the revolver because Salim's got a gun ? Since when did Mumbai goons leave 'khoda', 'samaan' and switch to 'Colt' ?
4. Since when did call centres serving customers in Scotland keep telephone directories of Indian cities accessible at the click of a button, where mobile phones are listed in telephone directories ?
5. How does the blind kid 'recognise' Jamal ?
Having said all this regarding the ever continuing debate about romanticising of poverty of amchi New York - this is what a western reviewer wrote on how the West would have reacted on a similar movie based in US - " Say an Indian director travelled to New Orleans for a few months to film a movie about Jamal Martin, an impoverished African American who lost his home in Hurricane Katrina, who once had a promising basketball career, but who -- following a drive-by shooting -- now walks with a permanent limp, whose father is in jail for selling drugs, whose mother is addicted to crack cocaine, whose younger sister was killed by gang-violence, whose brother was arrested by corrupt cops, whose first born child has sickle cell anaemia, and so on. The movie would be widely panned and laughed out of theatres."
Ok, if 5810 film aficionados finally decide that this movie needs an Oscar, I will shut my trap and change my spiel and start liking the film all over and meticulously find more things to praise it.
Saw 'Luck by chance' yesterday. Despite my irritated daughter who totally got bored and I had to walk out seven times with her for excuses of popcorn, Samosa, ice cream and susu , I still liked it. Maybe it could have been edited better and made a little shorter and the implausibe last five minutes where everything is about Konkan SenSharma who was just one of lesser characters in the movie till then - it is still worth one dekko !
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