Congress-I and Customer Service

The concept of customer service (moments of truth) has never existed for Congress-I and its lieutenants. Look at the way they are treating their biggest bastion in South - AP and India's second Presidential Capital Hyderabad. Even with 40 plus MPs - we have no minister of reckoning who will award projects here or retain investments. Investments are flowing out of the city, commercial space i...s g...oing abegging, some 30,000 units are threatening closure, companies like ICICI Bank and Infosys have reduced their footprint here to other places (which was not the original plan) like Pune, Landmark Bookshop closed its Warehouse in Hyderabad, many prominent groups have shifted out of Hyderabad, students are not coming to study in Hyd anymore especially Inter/Degree/PG level students which is the backbone of student population, MICE events have taken the severest knock last few years, IT Parks are shifting their R&D to other centres in India and abroad. Congress-I never treated the Hyd city or the state of AP with the respect and support - issues pile up and burial is the solution. This is nothing but a heist comparable in scale to what the British plundered in pre-independence era. The state is ignored in getting Railways footprint, projects, industrial corridors, everything and they manage to keepo the state folks perenially in illiteracy and disempowerment with doles for the poor. Today, the poor of AP are going out of the state for work; a few years back states like Bihar saw outlflow of people because of de-growth in Bihar - now Bihari workers in AP are moving back to Bihar because there are better prospects there. Does that mean we are becoming worse than Bihar?In the triangular contest happening between TDP, Jagan and Telangana demands - the Cong-I has precipitated CBI enquiries which are going nowhere but threatening to cast a shadow on every businessman in the city. I just hope that the next election will teach a lesson on customer service to Congress-I by decimating their base built on crooked plans, divisive politics and devious policies based on faultlines developed by them alone. Who will cry for you, Andhra Pradesh?

Being Cycil

"Blood is thicker than water". You can say now that Cycil Mistry is chosen to succeed Ratan Tata. The oldest group didnt want any outsider to lead them like say Infosys. Thats justifiable and understandable given its range of businesses.

Quotes on Stockmarkets

Some quotes on the stock market that are never out of sync.


"Know that for every Seller in the market, there is also a buyer" - Anon.

"Only liars manage to always be OUT during bad times and IN during good times in stock market."- Bernard Baruch.

"The investor's chief problem - and even his worst enemy - is likely to be himself." - Benjamin Graham.

"Investors shouldn't delude themselves about b...eating the market. They're just not going to do it. It's just not going to happen." - Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize Winner in Economics.

"Your ultimate success of failure will depend on your ability to ignore the worries of the world long enough to allow your investments to succeed. It isn't the head, but the stomach that determines your fate." - Peter Lynch.

"There are well-dressed foolish ideas just as there are well-dressed fools." - Nicholas Chamfort.

"The greatest advantage from gambling comes from not playing at all." - Girolamo Cardano, 16th Century physician, mathematician.

"If you want to see the greatest threat to your financial future, go home and take a look in the mirror." - Jonathan Clements.
just made a killing in the stock market -- I shot my broker". Henny Youngman


"The time of maximum pessimism is the best time to buy and the time of maximum optimism is the best time to sell".John Templeton

"If you have trouble imagining a 20% loss in the stock market, you shouldn't be in stocks".John (Jack) Bogle

"The key to making money in stocks is not to get scared out of them".

Peter Lynch

"The stock market is filled with individuals who know the price of everything, but the value of nothing".Philip Fisher.

Sri Rama Rajyam Movie Review

“Srirama Rajyam” is worth the wait and worth watching all 150 minutes. Honestly, I was not bored even once despite that there were no fights, no item songs, no comedy tracks, no belly-dancing or bottom-pinching movements. On the contrary, Balakrishna who usually mouths blood-wrenching dialogues and Nayanatara who wears sleeveless sarees gave one of the best performances of their lives – Balayya with his “Avatar” Vishnu-blue colour body and impeccable makeup and costumes that are reminiscent of NTR and Nayanatara with her Satwic portrayal of Sita in elegant skin-protecting dresses is surprising.


The script - originally purportedly written by Sage Valmiki – based on the original “Luva Kusha” was well-fleshed out, articulated and embellished by Late Mullapudi Venkataramana garu. You see him in every line that every character speaks in the film directed superbly by Bapu garu. It is incredible that after so many decades after “Seeta Kalyanam”, Bapu and Ramana retained their affection for Ramayana so well as to carve out a mini-epic that will resonate splendidly with today’s audiences. In interpreting Ramayana in the light of today’s changing themes of polygamy, disharmony and dysfunctional childhoods, live-in marriages and celebratory divorces, children and parents who live on different planets, et al – Mullapudi Ramana gives his subtle take on many aspects for those who listen to the under-currents behind the voices coming from the characters.

The original “Luva Kusha” despite its celestial songs and immortal characterization came in techno color and all of 22 reels with higher Telugu proficiency. This one is 16 reels and full of crisp characterization and wonderful visuals and some ten minutes of outstanding graphics toward the climax. Not just Balakrishna and Nayanatara - almost everybody gets to shine once or often most notably ANR (who played a majestic role as Sage Valmiki), Srikanth (as Lakhsmana), KR Vijaya (as Kausalya) and Roja (as Sita’s mother Bhoodevi). The three kids playing Hanuman, Luv and Kush give us a full feel of what blithe spirits are – they are just adorable. At eighty, when most folks wheel away in their chair or eke their twilight years like a vegetable, Bapu garu has worked so damn hard on a subject that’s dear to him and his dear friend Mullapudi Ramana who passed away before the film got completed. Of course, it requires a gutsy producer like Y Saibaba to collaborate so well in bringing such an ambitious enterprise to bear fruit – and he is the silent hero who has to be appreciated. One movie like this will get generations back to its roots – and Bapu has taken great care in giving a top-quality visual which is crisp, neat, measured not once appearing either regressive in message or vulgar at all (like some of the other directors who attempt mythologicals get tempted for). Music by Maestro Ilayaraja is already a hit but in the movie he used it with calibrated orchestration as BGM that will stand out.

There are minor blemishes in the movie but hardly noticeable in the flow and very few cinematic liberties taken by Bapu and Ramana – but they don’t impoverish our worldview, they enrich the movie. Also, given the thin layer of the original Uttara Ramayana, I expected to see Bapu-Ramana team to delve more into the nuances of Rama Rajyam which people like Mahatma Gandhi and others talked about – give us a broader sweep of how a society used to live under Rama Rajya – rather than concentrating on the melancholy and twist of fate separating Rama and Sita yet again. That would have set “Srirama Rajyam” further apart from “Luva Kusha” as the final epic instead of mostly showing a brooding Rama. Sita’s character always shows greater resilience and courage than Rama – and that comes through ably through Nayantara.

Ramayana as a theme always finds takers for its undercurrents of love, family values and devotion. I am always intrigued that right from Valmiki to Kamba to writers like RK Narayan, C Rajagopalachari, Ashok Banker – success always crowns those who stick to the basic knitting. If you stray from the plot like Mani Ratnam or take liberties under the veil of artistic freedom, you will get dumped not for irrelevance but for irreverence. Recently, Delhi University has scrapped AK Ramanujam’s essay on 300 versions of Ramayana because the epic is burned so deeply inside our national consciousness that reading the original version gives more benefits than when it is not endured. To that extent, “SriRama Rajyam” is recommended highly. We are taking out our 83 year old grandmother as well as kids who see Telugu DVDs with English subtitles. And let me say this unabashadely, nobody makes Ramayana epics better than Bapu-Ramana or for that matter Telugu folks.

On Petrol Prices

Petrol prices slashed again by less than a rupee. This is a rare event that must be celebrated by vehicular country like India. Note this day because it really makes for a Happy Adults Day. The statistical probability of such events recurring is usually rare - not as rare as Dev Anand movies but as rare as once in four years. Oil majors despite posting monstrous losses have many ways to make money - including petrol-tripping (each pump operator saves about 50 litres per week), rounding off etc. The point I want to make is: You can't assume deflation with such once-in-a-while concessions. Next four years will see crude oil jumping ahead of the curve.

On Airlines Industry

You know that old joke about making a million in Airlines Industry. Start with two million. What folks dont know is that Capt.Gopinath also ran an Airlines to ground after taking Rs.700 crs. from a UK-based businessman. Then he tried to sell it Anil Ambani. After that misfired, he found Mallya an easy bait. With that money, Cargo Jet services were launched before it teeters on the brink of bankru...ptcy. On top of that, he wrote a painfully long autobiography of how AirDeccan was formed. Never read a more painful book in my life. Mallya, on the other hand, is crying baby. This is like RajKapoor growing a stubble before meeting Censor Board members to spare censorship of sexy scenes that will rake in the riches. If only bankers realise to ask for pledge of shares of the other cash-rich companies - the ones that keep us in high spirits. Funny, how the best of the lot can get fooled. I am not just upbraiding any Airlines here, but Indigo and then Jet and then Spicejet are my pecking order of airlines to fly with on a clear day. As for Kingfisher, I guess this year there will be no Calendars for 2012 because the owner has become the new poster-boy and "shoot at site" orders may come marching anytime.

"Rockstar" Movie Review

"RockStar" by Imtiaz Ali is quite an effort by the writer-turned-director in bringing to screen how rustic folks end up at the starry end of the rainbow - with power to sway fans to do their bidding. Imtiaz Ali has picked the right candidate - a born actor with starry eyes- Ranbir Kapoor - to play the title role and he does it with tremendous ease showing multiple shades of how raw innocence, ins...tincts and impulsiveness combine with luck to give a solo Guitarist mega stardom and the pains that come with it - adulation and sympathy, allegations and affairs, success as well as tragedy. AR Rahman's BGM and soul-stirring Punjabi Sufi melodies enhance different moods - it comes naturally to him and he just goes ballistic with his sense of music. Nargis Fakr is quite a find and plays the role with consummate charms - she steals the screen sometimes more often than Rockstar Ranbir. Shammi Kapoor is seen for the last time on celluloid - and Director uses his soulful presence sparingly at every crucial point in the film - those pining eyes with subtle mist in Shammi Kapoor playing Shehnai in the last frame he appears gets to you forever. Imtiaz Ali, I think, is an honest film-maker who tells a good story with his groove of experiential and sometimes autobiographical interpretations - whether it is taking Rumi's poetry or taking lives of famous rockstars who lived it up with their idiosyncracies and couldn't care less for social norms of the day. To that extent, Rockstar will shock some of the conventions when an artist becomes obsessed with his muse at the cost of his own reputation and the marriage of the latter but thats what underlies many artistes' lives - there is a hero and there's irony, allergy and stupidity, naivette and tragedy. Imtiaz has brought out the creative process that shapes up superstars who connect with the masses and in rendering a plausible story of a credible superstar he follows some ibby-jibbies unique to Hindi and keeps the nativity of the North Belt core to his films. Thats why, I think it is tough for other language film-makers to re-make his films - its easy for "Teenmaar" director to miss the magic in the original "Luv Aajkal". Thats why Imtiaz Ali's films are special. Second half could have been shorter and less jerky while the first half was brilliant. Whether Ranbir becomes a real Rockstar or not, this movie will remain his finest hour. And Rahman also can now be dismissive of the initial criticism he received on the OST. The only reason you may walk out of this movie is if the music and its creation is not your cup of tea.