Do not go gentle into that good night

i wrote an article last year when roger federer won his 5th wimbledon crown, quoting dylan thomas.

those same words are true even today.

on a day when grey skies and rain hewed the day, the king and the prince set out to light fire. the blaze was of such raging intensity, that the skies had to reluctantly make way for the sun to come watch.

for those watching, the adrenaline had run out, the goose pimples had had their day, the mind had gone blank; couldn't believe the visual feast, and still the King and the Prince battled on.

till the Prince coming from the land of the moors tasted greatness.

in the same land which gave birth to a certain chunky cigar chomping persona who inspired the nation with " Never give in! Never give in! Never, never, never, never - in nothing great or small, large or petty. Never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense"

for the King's fans, it was bittersweet. On the one hand it was reassuring to see him come back in great style and make the Prince work for his win. On the other, one wished he could have lived the dream a little longer.

however time, age, change and revolution have their own agenda. that agenda left the King and the Prince swapping their roles, both teary eyed, and the audience wonder struck.

we will see lot of debate on whether the Prince is greater than the King, and whether the King can come back. there are even threads saying the King is dead, no doubt inspired by a certain lady during the A.O.

all this is irrelevant. what the King has achieved cannot be taken away from him. half a decade of sustained brilliance is unexpungable. What will happen in the future is unknown. The Prince might well go on to win 20 slams. That does not diminish the achievements of the King or of other greats.

as to the King being dead.. in tennis, Kings dont die. they become immortal, passing on the mantle of sovereign to the reigning great.

the clouds have come back today with a vengeance, as if denying yesterday happened.

But we witnessed what happened yesterday.

We witnessed Magic.

The Emergence of Ordinary

andy warhol is responsible.

not only does he takes crappy pictures of a crappy soup can, he then has the temerity to say everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.

lo and behold the internet arrived giving everyone the ability to be just that. the internet didnt remain at being just able to connect things and people in ether, but also ended up having a multiplier effect on all of society.

this has created a niche for the ordinary.

here goes my list of things ordinary

chetan bhagat's one night at the call centre - inane drivel

amy winehouse - lousy hair, lousy tattoos, lousy posture, lousy behaviour, a voice that mumbles. and she wins a grammy or two for that. go figure

tate britain, work no 850 featuring sprinters running in the gallery - crap packaged as art. surest way to sell. www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/duveenscommission/default.shtm

spiderman 3 - bollywood song and dance and love triangle. in english. with sfx

lindsay lohan and paris hilton - having a blonde day everyday

mona lisa - famous for being famous. otherwise an itty bitty painting.

big brother and all its spin offs in all countries - at one point television and movies provided escapism from reality. now reality provides escapism from reality. boring shit.

Nano, Jaguar and evolution

a few weeks back was arguing intensely(nothing new there), with a friend of indian origin about cars and the Tatas. this gentleman is widely travelled, has a passion for cars, and both took him to an automobile show in geneva. the nano and the indica were on display there and according to him were the only cars in which visitors werent allowed to sit in, to get a feel for the cars. the reason given to him was that visitors who had sat in the cars, had damaged parts of the car, and the dealer didnt have spares available.

this got my friend started on his hobby horse of indians not being able to plan, anticipate.

he has a point. however dealers sell cars not at exhibitions but at their showrooms. car makers dont sell cars at exhibitions. they sell awareness.

the nano annoumcement generated a lot of front page publicity in britain with business papers and magazines givint it extensive coverage.

while most folks seem to associate the nano with a cheap small car for the masses, i tend to look at the nano differently.

with the nano, the tatas have taken first mover advantage. they have forced the established manufacturers to accelerate their development plans for cheap small cars. they probably have got the manufacturers to give away freebies in the basic version, to differentiate from the nano.

i am willing to bet that the nano will be higher priced than the 100k originally declared, but then i am also willing to bet that a few grand here and there will not take away the sheen of the nano.

i have always believed that indian companies are not very good at marketing and branding with the odd companies such as kingfisher being the exception. however indian companies are good at innovation and thats what the nano is about.

on jaguar, i am on less sure footing re the tatas abilities. given my take on the marketing and branding abilities of indian companies, it will be interesting to see how the jaguar brand value is retained. but then toyota did launch lexus demonstrating that a mass market car maker could also launch a successful luxury car so there is precedence.

do not go gentle in that good night

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

perhaps roger federer is a fan of dylan thomas. perhaps he read these lovely words of his. roger is not old. nor is he in the twilight of his career. nor is the genius back in the bottle.

but it has been a tough year for him. the australian open win was followed by some pedestrian displays and then he came back emphatically at hamburg, only to be quelled at the french open by the spanish matador.

the pack smelt demise. the pack smelt the end of an era. it was growling,snapping, sniffing and biting. and we could see the pack in the form of the spanish conquistador.

and this was the backdrop to the coliseum that was sw19 yesterday, whence our gladiators clad in pristine whites came to do battle. the challenger who doesnt know what capitulacion means.. and the defender who doesnt know what defeat means on grass.

the puppet master, above, in his wisdom, knows genius cannot be made on an assembly line. it has to be handcrafted in a minority to enliven and enrichen the lives of the masses. and hence one shane warne in australia, one sachin tendulkar in india, one jonny wilkinson in england and one roger federer in switzerland.

the puppet master also knows that genius is not on tap. these greats will have ordinary days. yes their ordinary days are on a different scale to us mere mortals. but they are still ordinary. and hence roger federer had, by his own standards a very ordinary year.

we hadnt witnessed the glorious shot making that we know he is capable of. we hadnt witnessed the mind numbing beauty that his tennis is capable of the whole year. and we had too few of those jaw dropping, pinch myself, am i alive, moments.

we the discerning started doubting the maestro. maybe the maestro started doubting himself. after all michaelangelo cannot paint a sistine chapel every day.

and so the gladiatorial contest started yesterday. doubt and hope warred amongst the believers.the spanish matador ran better, ran quicker, hit harder.. set 1 came and went. set 2 went .and set 3 went and so did set 4. the maestro still hadnt gone into his turbo charged game.. and doubt started turning into despair for us believers.we railed and ranted internally. surely the puppet master had not set an expiry date on genius.

maybe the maestro heard us. maybe he didnt.

but came set 5

and the maestro went into the ZONE.

i do not know what the zone is. i am not a genius. mere mortals cannot describe it. genius cannot describe it and will not describe it cause they know mere mortals cannot comprehend.

but the zone is jonny wilkinson with that final drop kick. the zone is that day in adelaide when shane warne commanded the field.

the zone is roger federer, the maestro, in the 5th set of wimbledon 2007.

it does not matter to me now if roger federer should or should not be called the goat. it does not matter whether he wins the french open.

all it matters is that i was witness to this 5th set. there was reason to be alive. there was privilege to see this man play, win. and stamp his greatness on the grass. and tell the matador, not yet my friend, the day still belongs to me.

and so onto monday. the day is flat. the day is empty. the gladiators have packed their bags and gone in search of other coliseums.

there will be days when the demons come back. there will be days when insecurities rear their head. there will be days when i can hear the pack growling in the background.

to such days i have the antidote.

it is chris martin on the boom box
"When you try your best, but you don't succeed...

And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace...
Could it be worst?

Lights will guide you home,
And ignite your bones,
And i will try to fix you"..

and remembering the 5th set with the maestro in the zone... then the day will be brighter.. the demons will recede.. the impossible will be possible

Tony B's negotiating skills

I liked Tony B during the initial years of his office. he had charisma. that,since then, has leaked faster than a Roger Federer forehand. But to get to the point, i wish he read 'Negotiations for Idiots'.

when you sit across Putin and want to tell him you are concerned about their aggression.. Don't say, "people were becoming fearful" of Russia's foreign policy"!

Negotiation 101 says, DON'T expose your weaknesses and fears!

Tony B, which address may i post 'Negotiations for Idiots' to?

Pukeworthy Award of the year so far goes to

Ash Crowned: MSN's most searched person.

Cont...

Ash Crowned: MSN's most searched person

Friday, June 08, 2007
18:00 IST

Blog this story

From her latest movies to her appearance at the Cannes Film Festival, everyone wants to know what Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is working on and where she is going next. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was today crowned the most searched personality on www.in.msn.com by the IIFA brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan at the glittering eighth annual International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards ceremony at Yorkshire, England.

Paris Hilton, " Mom, Mom, its not right"

" no one has taken my picture in three days. I am traumatised".

any bets on whether this circus will result in a bestseller?

Spidey 3 - Bollywood influenced?

i wonder what sam raimi did with the song and dance routine? maybe kirsten dunst and toby maguire were singing and dancing around the web and the web gave way...

other than the song and dance routine and the fx, its very much takes off on orthodox bollywood themes.. love between friends, two friends after the same girl, evil avatar of the good hero (though bollywood would have made this as the evil twin of the hero and the twin too would have been after the girl), and lastly, sacrifice of the friend in the end..

if bollywood was able to copyright its themes it would have made a killing on spidey

repetitive foot in the mouth syndrome

to you know who you are

i am sorry. the intentions and belief were and always be right. the medium and conveyance was wrong.

on Brian Lara

Cricket is not my first choice game to watch. that's tennis. Neverthelss cricket is a fascinating watch for me, not the least, for the spell it casts on a billion plus people on the subcontinent.

Brian Lara's retirement from the game will no doubt leave a void amongst the Windies. Brian made an insightful comment on asked whether he was happy with his 17 odd year stint in cricket. he asked the crowd whether he had entertained. and gave a big smile at the emphatic yes.
too often celebrity loses sight of reality. that it is the paying public that makes them. and can break them.

Joe Public in India and England, should leverage this to bring the cricket and football teams of the two countries to heel.

inspiring people, and others

this is not about nelson mandela or stephen hawking.. enough has been written on such worthies..

a lot of people have shaped my life for the better... i am frequently conceited enough not to acknowledge that...time for a change.

Mr N.B Nair, teacher extraordinaire, godliness never came second to teaching, with him
Shyam Sunder Rao, Castrol, brilliant presenter, motivator, manager,entrepreneur and colleague
Rene Carayol, business guru,speaker, motivator.. when Rene speaks a packed hall listens and takes it to heart
Bernard Fisher, mentor and deal maker consummate
Beach Bum for showing that success and selflessness can go hand in hand
the person who followed me for 5 miles on the motorway to indicate i had a flat

Muhammed Ali for ' If you dream of beating me, you had better wake up and aplogize'

and a few more who have entered my life recently..

regret is not an emotion i indulge in, nevertheless, if i could go back in time and change a few circumstances, i would

Brass Balls and Gullible Joe awards go to

the Indian Marketing Machine for turning 11 talented but gutless wonders into the next coming of the Lord....

Joe Public for buying it.

Indian tigers turn into normal selves: pussy cats

i told you so

English and Indian Cricket - the lion roars, the tiger miaows

one team has had an absymal Ashes series in which they reached rock bottom and then roared back in style to win the tri series, which was the one day series subsequent to the Ashes. yes they beat Australia, in Australia, not once, but thrice. lions indeed.

the other team could have won in South Africa, in December. the subsequent wins over the West Indies and Sri Lanka don't count.

home wins don't count. home losses do.

both England and India have teams with talent. and yet India remain paper tigers. so whats the difference between these two teams? what makes one come back from adversity and win triumphantly? what makes the other open its mouth to roar like a tiger... and out comes a squeak?

can it be hunger? the desire to win? that unquenchable desire that makes you sleepless.. that desire that lead Sir Steve Redgrave to 5 Olympic Golds.. that is 20 years of slog..

it certainly can't be lack of talent. the Indian team is probably the most talented team, counted individually. talent alone can take you so far. It is the desperate desire to win that tips the scale in your favour.

Don't believe me? Look at Tim Henman. oodles of talent. but lacked the steely determination that Pete Sampras had.

and then look at Ivan Lendl. no talent on grass. but can you imagine the grim, cold eyed will that lead him to 3 Wimbledon finals?

or is it not even the hunger.. is it something far deeper? the cultural and emotional psyche of Indians that make them less suited to competitive physical sport?

Race, State intervention and National Identity

today in the US we have the first Afro-American Presidential candidate in Obama and the first woman running for President in Hillary Clinton.

wow. make that double wow.

having watched American politics for a long time, i am flabbergasted. In the Reagen years I would never have thought of America having candidates from minority commmunities running for President. It is all the more astonishing given that mainstream US is very conservative. anti abortion, anti gay etc.

I think we are seeing a seismic shift here in US politics and minority relations. Its possible, probable in fact, that Obama and Clinton will not win the elections and we end up with another white middle aged male as President. But having Obama and Clinton getting considerable TV and mindspace in the next few months alone will have a significant impact on the conscious and subconscious of middle America.

so where does that leave the UK? the UK has always been a liberal home for views on abortion, gay rights, minority rights yet the UK has yet to have a black candidate for prime minister. Oh yes, we had a woman prime minister, the iron lady, but no black prime ministers or prime ministerial candidates. The UK has always followed a state driven initiative of improving race relations. is it because of this state intervention, which is often heavy handed, that is preventing black candidates to come to the fore? is it state intervention that is stifling activism that has lead to the US getting its first Afro American candidate? isnt it ridiculous to have the prime minister, chancellor and parliament lending their voice to the noise over the irrelevant Celebrity Big Brother?

i think it is. The UK is fast becoming a nanny state where state is expected to, and does, guide citizens on how to lead a life.

take the latest Unicef report on a survey of childrens' well being in different industrialised countries. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6360517.stm. UK comes bottom.

reaction from a concerned public : "

Shadow Chancellor George Osborne accused Chancellor Gordon Brown of having "failed this generation of children".

"After 10 years of his welfare and education policies, our children today have the lowest well-being in the developed world," he said."

Duh!

and here i was thinking upbringing of children and their well being was the primary responsibility of parents! no doubt the government will bring out a series of measures to monitor childrens' well being which includes incentives and penalties for defaulting parents.

a change of government is fast becoming attractive. provided the Tories take a fresher approach.

coming to national identity, i think the current lack of a unified national identity and debate on Britishness is down to decades of lack of appropriate state intervention. I am a naturalised British citizen. There wasn't a Union Jack in sight during my naturalisation ceremony. I cant think of any more damning evidence about national identity (lack of), than this.

citizenship is a privilege. its granting should be underlined by making an occassion of it. The single most important visual affirmation of identity is the national flag. and yet it is absent in these ceremonies.

maybe the state should devote its time to this. and maybe it will lead to an abatement of radical fundamentalism.

Jonny Wilkinson

God made man. Then God made Jonny.

enough said.

shilpa shetty on celebrity big brother

i watched this for all of 15 minutes,before boredom set in

to give some perspective on who shilpa shetty is in bollywood... shes not an A lister star like aishwarya rai but neither is she a C lister.. so she is pretty much part of the current Bollywood firmament, very well recognized and mobbed in India. No she's not a has been. she's an IS actress.

she seems lost on CBB and i guess she did not know what she was getting into when she agreed to take part. as to why a Bollywood film star mobbed by millions is taking part in this show, i guess the moolah CBB is paying her plays a small role ! after all isn't David Beckham is moving to MLS (who? :) ) for a meagre £128 m.

there have been some comments of racism by the other house members towards shilpa. i havent watched the show long enough(nor can i be bothered) to determine that.

one alleged comment about her had me in splits. and that was about her having an indian accent! duh. like what accent is an indian, whos lived in india most of her life, supposed to have?

there have been some (alleged) comments made by shilpa and also by the indian media about shilpa shetty representing indian culture and ethos on CBB.

hmm, Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother arent synonymous with culture are they?

on shane warne

so he's retiring. and one hopes there is no one else like him. after all genius should be a one off.

did you watch the last day in adelaide? shane pulverised us. with his mind. no other bowler today could have turned around that test.

never has dylan thomas been more apt for a sporting genius

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Immigration and national economies.. random thoughts

after a recent visit to the US, realised that English must be one of the least spoken languages in the subways..which is no surprise given that it is a country built by immigrants. the diversity of thought and determinedness of immigrants can be seen in the USA.

which brings us to China and India. I am gung ho about both these countries, but where will they bring in the variety in society half a century from now? both countries are too populous to have immigration.

Roger Federer and the pursuit of excellence

just watched Federer win his 3 rd successive title and yes, its been a one sided final...which is good...because i would rather watch a genius at work, rather than two evenly matched players.. unless ofcourse both were of genius calibre. i dont think Federer is in Sampras class yet, but surely way ahead of the rest of the top 10 players.

business excellence is actually no different to sporting excellence except that it is expected to be sustained year round, whereas sporting excellence is dependent on the performance of the player(s) on that day. what is interesting is that sporting achievements are more closely linked with national pride than business achievements..maybe it is due to our cavemen days when we were dependent on our achievements in hunting to feed the family/tribe..

Bill Gates surely has a word or two to say about business excellence. he came across vey well, atleast to me, at the Live8 @ Hyde Park.

i am a little puzzled as to why he consented to come onto Live8...maybe because he is the world's foremost philanthropist and Africa is a good platform to be on these days...while Live 8 was a great event and did surely help in raising awareness, it has not presented any solutions to Africa's problems. those problems are more to do with the maturity of African governments, corruption, etc. than to do with more western aid to Africa.

in any case Live 8 was good to watch just for Pink Floyd