The day William Shakespeare passed away, and maybe the very same day he was born too (well, the date of birth is left to speculations!)… The day Cervantes was buried… (In between writing an article for Appco Group Poland, I took a look at Wikipedia and confirmed that Cervantes, who died on April 22, was buried on April 23). The day some other writers too were born or died…

So, what am I going to say? Nothing much. Just wanted to remind myself that I need to find more time to read and energise myself with my reading. Minting money anyone can do; in a mad race to make and save money, we often do away with good habits like reading, thinking, cultivating hobbies and even lose more friends than earn new ones. Is that happening to me too? Well, not sure about the other things.. I do have time to think, I often go on thinking and sometimes think real crazy. I have hobbies and do spare time for them. I have friends, some real good ones. So then, what’s missing? Seems like I don’t spend that much time reading nowadays…

Desultory reader that I am, I rarely read books from the start to the end. But I used to read nevertheless…and I believe that my reading, though not that wide, did contribute towards making me what I am (Well, What am I?!). But these days, I don’t find time to spend with books.

Someone somewhere (Oh, Should I use it as plural, since many people seem to have said so?!) has said that books are man’s best companions. In today’s world, where human companions tend to stay away and confined to ‘self-imposed shells’ citing strange reasons, books ought to fill those voids and enrich our otherwise paupered lives.

So here I am, giving myself this valuable piece of advice- ‘Hey, c’mon! Revive your reading habits and use books to energise yourselves!”

Thanks a lot, Beladev!

Two weeks ago, as I was fuming over an article and on linking it to Oracle Advertising, my friend Beladev, who is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Indian Army, came up with this question, “Have you read Jonathan Livingstone Seagull?”. My reply was in the negative and he continued, “You must. In fact it’s one book that I’d keep separate in my book-shelf, decorated and sealed. It’s a gem of a book”.

Beladev doesn’t bluff, especially when it’s about books. He reads… and it’s an in-depth kind of reading that he does. So the very same day I decided to buy a copy of Jonathan Livingstone Seagull. Beladev called the book-store and inquired about its availability. They said they had a copy and that they would keep it for me. So, as I was going home that evening, for the weekend, I did an extra mile or two and went to grab that copy.

One of the main things that I did that weekend- in addition to doing a trip with some friends, watching a movie and spending some time with my family- was reading Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, at one go. The story of a seagull that strives to be different and is therefore declared an outcast! He doesn’t want to be an ordinary seagull that hunts food and eats it and lives for that alone. He wants to fly greater heights and unravel the secrets of flying.

The narrative is what keeps you absorbed. The way Jonathan Livingstone takes it over from someone and passes it on to someone else like a legacy lends it an air of detachment, a tone of ascetic simplicity that brings you face to face with some basic truths about life and death.

Thanks Richard Bach, for writing the book; and thanks once again Beladev, for asking me to read it. The book has enriched my life and energised me a lot…

It was when I was busy writing a press release for Oracle Advertising that I got this call from my friend. He wanted to go check out some high-end cameras. I said, “OK, let’s go; and after that if time permits let’s go watch ‘The Artist’ too”.

That was it. We went for ‘The Artist’, not just because the film had won the Oscars, but because we had heard it’s good. A silent, black and white film today itself makes you curious; and if you are a real film buff, you’d want to go watch it. You’d want to know what it’s all about. You’d want to know if a silent movie would go well with you. You’d want to know if the film is really worth the Oscars it had won.

‘The Artist’ tells the story of George Valentin, a popular actor of the silent movies’ era. In comes an aspiring actress Peppy Miller, who happens to be just an extra. Peppy bumps into Valentin, and later Valentin promotes her and she gets better roles to play. Then comes the talkies. Valentine is out and Peppy is in. Valentine’s star is on the down-swing while Peppy’s is on the ascent. Valentine makes his own silent film, producing and directing it himself. But it’s a big flop. He is bitter at Peppy, but Peppy still adores Valentin the way she had when she first bumped into him. From there the plot develops.

Won’t go in for a detailed reviewing; you can find it elsewhere. What I liked most about the movie, lemme put that down. Firstly, though silent, ‘The Artist’ happens to be so vocal, so expressive; I was left wondering if we were really making good use of the technology that we now have at hand. Second, rather than take a negative or one-sided stand as regards change, the film takes a rather healthy attitude, taking in its stride changes that happen as we move on and at the same time bridging a gap between the old and the new. Thirdly, the way the plot develops, that shows the control the scenarist has over the script and the subject. Last, but not the least, I liked the excellence that reflects in the totality of the work involved- on the part of the director, the actors, the technicians and everyone involved in the making of the wonderful movie.

Disclaimer: This is not a review, I am no critic. This is just what I felt, as an average viewer, on seeing the movie. Sorry for disappointing the erudite critics with my ‘shallow’ thoughts, but that’s me and my perspective, am happy with it!

A couple of days back, as I was writing something for Web Technologies Inc., one of our clients, I was also seeing a movie, an old-time Hindi movie which I had seen earlier in my college days. That was years back and memories were vague.

‘Bawarchi’- that’s the name of the movie; the late Hrishikesh Mukherjee, the man who made many memorable films, is the director. Rajesh Khanna plays the lead role. The storyline is simple. A big household with many members, but each one of them is shut up in a world of his or her own. There is no love between them and they just lead their own, empty lives. Into this house comes a new ‘bawarchi’, a cook named Raghu. Things change. The cook, who seems a ‘jack of all trades’, makes love enter their lives. They get closer to one another and start living their lives more meaningfully. The cook teaches them some simple and basic lessons of living happily and meaningfully and finally, as we’d expect, moves on…He says that he has many more houses to visit and many more families to unite…

A simple story it may seem; but ‘Bawarchi’ is one of those films that make you feel better. It’s one of those films that make you think positive. It makes you want to enrich your life and the lives of others…

Thanks Hrishida….I felt elated re-visiting the film that you made four decades ago, in 1972. Thanks a lot…

I do write blogs after blogs and articles after articles for our company’s many clients- Appco Group, Enigma Marketing etc. Agreed that most of those articles, which are plain business articles, don’t inspire or excite me or anyone, except perhaps the client (!)… But those do serve a purpose, and since the world is not just about creativity and writing, I have no regrets writing all that…It’s part of my job, part of what I do to keep myself going on in this material world, where I need food to eat, a house to live, fuel to run my car and clothes to wear…But once in a while, either when I fancy I am smitten by the creative bug or when I fail to catch even a wink of sleep (on some rare occasions that does happen), I write things that excite me, energise me and make me feel contented. I do that for our office blogs too, as and when the occasion arises.

I am reminded of an article that left me relieved and charged at a time when I was down, following the demise of a friend. That was a shock, not because he was a great friend. He was just a friend, but he used to spend the evenings with me on most days. We both were staying alone in the big bad city that provides no distractions whatsoever and he always had issues in his personal life that he wanted to share with me. So the evenings were mostly spent talking. Then, when one day I learn that he has ended his life, I am shocked. It takes some time to get over the shock…

In the meantime, some two or three days later, I am asked to write, by a friend and colleague, to write a post in memory of a writer on her first death anniversary. I begin, rather exhaustedly, having been down for the past 2-3 days. Then as I go on, it seems to catch fire…I feel like I am in some trance and words just come one after the other….It’s a totally personal piece on the writer. I write about what I felt about the writer and her works, I wrote about what I felt when I heard her speak after receiving a prestigious award and I wrote it all from my own perspective…

By the time I had finished writing the post, I was feeling much better. In fact I was feeling refreshed, energised and I was able to overcome the shock too to an extent…

Yeah, words do have the power to change people, lives and the world itself. Words are powerful; the energy that they effervesce can work wonders…

Last weekend Shyama visited Jaipur, the Pink City of India, to attend the world famous Jaipur Literature Festival. Then, on Monday, as I passed her an article I had written for Redwoods Advance for editing, she started sharing her experiences at Jaipur on Skype…

Here are some excerpts:
me: how was the lit fest?
shyama: enjoyed it feel enriched
shyama: bliss
shyama.: will paste tweet and fb status I made
me: okok
shyama.: Was at the Jaipur Lit fest this weekend was thrilled to see Gulzar, Ben Okri (got his book signed), Arvind Mehrotra recite Kabir, Prasoon Joshi, Remnick, Alex Pinker, Dalrymple and Oprah! ))
shyama.:  Also watched – “Exiled writers” talk with Kamin Mohammadi, Thant Myint-U, Fatima Bhutto, Hanan Al Shaykh moderated by W Dalrymple
shyama.: in a shop anokhi in jaipur I was standing next to vidhu vinod chopra and anupama chopra while paying bill
me: aha
shyama.: he was trying out a robe and asking his daughter if he looked like bhutan king
me: haha
shyama.: hehe
shyama.: prasoon joshi recited some great shayri punctuated by “wah wah” from gulzar….then gulzar recited
me: ok
shyama.: I was sad cld not understand hindi urdu more
shyama.: but wonderful
me: ok
shyama.: saw chetan bhagat
shyama.: ila arun
shyama.: girish krnad
me: wow
me: karnad wow
shyama.: karnad can u blieve was standing outside the Mughal tent next to speakers and listneing to the talk inside like aam aadmi
shyama.: did not hear him speak
me: wont say a wow for Chetan Bhagat
me: but for karnad, yes
shyama.: yeye
me: he is the Writer
shyama.: there was tlk on writing menoirs where he was in the panel missed it
me: have almost started re-visiting karnad
me: in the bag that I carry with me always, last week onwards his ‘Three Plays’ collections there
me: hayavadhavana, nagamandala and tuglaq
me: to be frank, I loved teaching karnad
me: and though I didnt read the play, liked the structure when i saw ‘agnivarsha’
me: the film
me: agnivarsha is a film based on karnad’s play ‘The Fire and the Rain’
me: I won’t say i liked the movie, it was not at all cinematic
shyama.: aha
me: it was more ‘dramatic’ than cinematic
me: and there is a film by him that i saw- ‘Cheluvi’, liked that too
me: and utsav, have u seen it?
shyama.: yes
shyama.: loved it
shyama.: btw also saw sanjana kapoor
shyama.: and son
shyama.: shashi ki beti
me: she is one among the kapoor clan who’s sensible
shyama.: prithvi theatres waali
shyama.: ye ye
me: i know
me: she had acted in a film or two too
me: jaane bhi do yaaron
shyama.: i screamed there’s sanjana kapoor
shyama.: and she turned and looked
me: the irony of it all is that literature and art are getting distanced from our lives

Then began a brief discussion on literature and trends today, following which we both resumed out work. The fact, however, was that Shyama was energised with the Literature Festival and returned to Delhi with books that she’d read and which would inspire her to buy and read more books.

I began the day writing an article for Appco Group Thailand, one of our clients. That was at the start of the day, when I was brimming with energy, derived from last night’s sleep and my delicious breakfast.

The day went by and I kept writing articles after articles, posting them one after the other on blogs and sites. Links came on, from SEOs in our team and I took care I linked to different clients. That’s how it works. By noon, I was half-tired. A heavy lunch made me feel drowsy, but sleep I can’t as I have much to write and targets to meet. (Miles to go before I sleep…).

Now, as office time is almost over, here I am, fumbling with words to pen my last article. Here I am, a writer sans energy. How I wish, I could shut up my computer, get a nap and then go off for a movie or to meet friends or just to wander about and refresh myself…

And then, the weekend, when I can do things at leisure, get my energy revived for the next week at work…

Happy Weekend to all….

Well, this is no secret. Energetic people, or to be precise, energetic writers (Should I say like me?) are quick at propounding theories. Well, I have done one (I am not the kind who’d admit I had done that out of sheer desperation to write an article on direct marketing, no way!). This I committed while I was writing an article for one of our clients, Sirius Star Marketing I think.

So, what was the theory? I bet you wouldn’t have heard of it before. I hadn’t, until the very moment I was bringing it forth. Well, the theory in question here is ‘the basic instinct theory of marketing’. Hey, do I see eminent marketers frown their brows thinking hard if they had ever heard of such a theory. Not to bother; there is no such theory.

So, what does ‘my’ basic instinct theory say? The very basic statement that this ‘theory’ makes is that buying and selling, in short marketing, is one of the basic instincts of man. God, doesn’t that sound true?! That’s me, energetic writer!! (Did I hear one of my friends boo loudly; I don’t care, energetic that I am). The ‘theory’, which I have discussed in a couple of articles till date, speaks about marketing as a basic instinct and then goes in for an explanation. ‘Trash!’- analysts would comment; ‘Nonsense!’- real good writers would lament. But I had no other go. Desperation is blind; and hence pardonable is the offense that’s the result of desperation.

Now comes the final question, from the side of the readers. ‘Are we to expect more of such ‘theories’?’- their tone, made emphatic with unanimous voice, is sort of menacing. Seems like they are saying- “Just come up with one more such theory and you will see for yourself what’s going to happen”.

Hey cool! Tolerance is one of the rarest of virtues; practice it buddies. You need it; or rather I need you to have it…

So, what’s your New Year Resolution? I can see my colleague Sreekumar smiling at me just as he is writing some Enza Marketing Review article. I can hear his smile wax eloquent. “You and your Resolutions! We know it all. You make Resolutions on every December 31st and make it a habit to forget it the moment you jump out of your bed on Jan 1st”- his smile means so much and much more, I know.

Well, I may not have a resolution. But you guys are not like me, I presume. So whatever it be, I would just wish you a New Year full of ‘energy’. (Hey guys, I can’t help using the word ‘energy’ as this site is dedicated to that wonderful word! But trust me; I am going to say many interesting things in my forthcoming posts.)

So let 2012 be one of the best years you have had in your life. Let joys outweigh sorrows this year and let friends be there for you more than enemies. Let your near and dear ones cherish your love and presence and let things be as you want them to be. Let every sunrise this year cheer you up and let every night’s sleep refresh you so that you get to make the most of each day this year.

Too much of wishing will bore you guys I know. So let me stop here. Now it’s your turn to wish me the same. Well, lemme presume you’ve done it. Here I take leave, determined to hit back with an ‘energy-filled’ post the next time.

Jayan, who works with me and who writes a lot of Reputation Management stuff about companies like Enigma Marketing, Appco etc, sent me this link. It was about how a woman and her son were saved from a hostage situation.

It happened in Utah, US. The woman and her 17-month-old son, who were held hostage for five days by a guy, were saved because of her Facebook status update. The woman, who remains unnamed, hid in a closet with a laptop and posted a message in Facebook saying that she and her son would be ‘dead by morning’ is no one came to help them. A friend read this update, informed the Police and the woman and her son were saved.

The person who held them hostage, a 33 year old guy, was jailed and investigations have begun, on charges of aggravated kidnapping, child abuse, aggravated assault, forcible sodomy, domestic violence, animal cruelty etc. The guy took the woman’s cellphone and another phone, treated her son roughly and refused to let her feed the family dog.

I can see you are wondering about the change of tone in my writing. This is something serious and hence I can’t bring myself to write it out in the same style as my earlier posts.
But doesn’t this prove that the social media has its own ‘energy level’? Well, I think I too got to explore the medium and make the most of it…