Bankruptcy hits Hollywood

Hi,

Musing#26

I just happened to watch this Hollywood movie "Wanted" starring Angelina, Freeman et al. I was really amused, as I felt I have gone back in the time machine and watching one of those Vittalacharya Telugu movies of 70's. For those of you who are not aware about Vittalacharya movies, he used to produce all super natural movies involving maya jaal, aliens, freak creatures etc. Many of his movies use to be successful and later on such genre produced by others also used to be referred to as Vittalacharya type of movies. In his movies the arrows shot in the battle between the hero and the villain used to collide in the mid-air and the fighting scene would continue with fresh shooting of arrows. Those of you who have watched the serials like Ramayan and Mahabharat would have viewed such battle scenes. In this movie "wanted" the bullets fired by two people collide in the mid-air like the arrows(Baans) and not only that in one scene the laws of physics are further defied as a bullet after firing travels not in a straight line but in a circular path killing more people. Ironically they call these movies as science fiction movies. People usually blame that our guys copy Hollywood but it seems that the tide is changing and Hollywood is now copying Tollywood(Telugu film industry). Like how financial bankruptcy has hit the American economy, similarly creative bankruptcy has hit Hollywood and is making a mockery of present day Hollywood movies. Who can forget the great movies of yest er years from Hollywood like...... The sound of music, My fair lady, Benhur, Cleopatra, Mckenna's gold, Hello Dolly etc.

One of the reasons for the standard going down is the way the Oscar committee function with a myopic view. However bad the Hollywood movies have been in a year still they search desperately to find some mediocre Hollywood movies to be given the Oscar awards there by making the Hollywood producers complacent and smug in their audacity that only Hollywood movies deserve awards. The Oscar juries should wake up and dump the Hollywood movies to the trash can this year and start looking beyond Hollywood.

Last time Lagaan missed out the Oscars because Cricket as a game was not understood by many juries. This time Aamir Khan's "Taare Zameen Par" has been selected as Indian nominee for the Oscars. This movie in all earnest should get the Oscar award for the best movie. I have watched all the recent past Hollywood movies and none of them come anywhere near to TZP. The juries might have got away last time by ignoring Lagaan with the pretext of ignorance about the game of cricket. This time they can not show their ignorance about dyslexia.

Dyslexia means difficulty in learning and if TZP is deprived of the Oscar this time then it is high time we question the learning abilities and the integrity of the Oscar juries.

mentor mohan

Honest Human Interactions

Hi,

Musing#25

When dealing in the purchase of items/articles all are very particular that the article they are buying is genuine and repeatedly they reconfirm from the seller about the genuineness of the item. Nothing wrong in that as anyone would like to ensure that they get a good deal and also get value for their money. But why the same yard stick is not applied when it comes to dealings with their own fellow human beings. Most of the time they are not genuine in dealing with their own kith and kin, colleagues,peers and even friends. They think by this behaviour they are outsmarting others or they are being very tactical not to get into any obligation or a good way to shirk their responsibility. They may be patting themselves for being clever this way. But like how any fake item does not last long, same way the relations with such people also don't last long. But they cause immense disharmony in their families, create mistrust in their team and are the root cause for the team to become dysfunctional in their organisation. The flip side is there are some people who willingly become a party and get along with such pseudo characters for their own personal benefit. Like how in dealing of fake goods there are buyers for it similarly there are people to patronise these pseudo characters as it benefits them at others cost. But in the long run these dealings catch up with them and they ultimately end up as emotional cripples.

This is the story of a car mechanic who buys fake parts and fits it to the cars given to him for repairs and charges the owners the cost of genuine parts. But ultimately he falls victim to his own misdeeds as one day he takes one of these cars for a test ride and the defective brake part gives away and he crashes and becomes a life long cripple.

We look for the ISI mark in an item to ascertain the genuineness of the item while buying. Same way let us look for the HHI(Honest Human Interactions) while dealing with people.

While buying lifeless articles we are so particular about genuineness, then why same genuineness element can not get into human interactions....................?

mentor mohan

The business school charlatans

Hi,

Musing #24

Like the regular feature of bomb blasts the financial markets have bombed once again. I read in the news paper about some people having committed suicide because they lost all their money due to this crash. Now my question is what is the difference between those ignorant terrorists who cause loss of life due to their physical destructive activities and these supposed to be financial experts who are no better than these terrorists by squandering away the hard earned money of gullible investors with their reckless financial wisdom and causing economic destruction. Mind you, all these supposed to be financial wizards pass out from premier business schools and are recruited by many of these financial institutions offering obscene salaries to them. During my six month stint in IIM-A as part of my company sponsored Management education programme, as part of interaction programme between the industry and practicing managers, I had occasions to interact with many of these students and I could find most of them only bothered about how they can land up with plum jobs and their learning from the course was only theoretical and they were very hollow. One of my bosses also happened to be a product of this institution and I found him to be totally hollow and lacking even basic human relationship skills. Basically all of them were lacking in that common commodity called common sense which was uncommon in these elite group. You look at all those business leaders like Kirloskars, Ambanis, Mittals, Bill gates, Narayan murthys,Birlas and Tatas, they never had an appendage of a business school degree after their name but they were the most successful business leaders and have created enormous wealth. Why leave out the often ridiculed our lalluji. he turned around the railways in a big way and he drove some gyan into the skull of these wizards at the famed business schools. But these charlatans who pass out from these fancy business schools have only been wealth destroyers than wealth creators. But still industry across the board want to pamper them as if they are the messiahs of prosperity. My advice to all of you who want invest their hard earned money is that do not put your money in the following,

1) Share markets

2) any mutual fund schemes

3) any private company's fixed deposits

My investment guide to you is, spread your investment across the following,

1) 40% of your savings in bank fixed deposits(nationalised) with short term investment where you are assured of 10% return and payment of monthly interest.

2) 30% of your savings in gold ( of course to be kept in locker)

3)30% of your savings in post office monthly investment plan.

As per the time old sayings" do not put all your eggs in one basket". Do not succumb to greed and invest in these mutual funds and other investment plans which are linked to the crazy sensex. Recklessness in sex and succumbing to those luring and enticing sex workers, can give you AIDS and similarly greediness about sensex and succumbing to those luring and enticing sensex specialists( they call them as financial experts in management parlance) can also give you a different kind of AIDS(Am in dire straits).

With sensex history keeps repeating itself, whether it is the great U.S.A. or the now supposed to be emerging economy like India. In the U.S.A. if it was the junk bonds then and the ridiculous scheme of sub prime mortgage now, in India it was market manipulators like Harshad mehta then and recently Ketan parikh. During my recent visit to the U.S., I happened to witness the tamasha at the wall street when the market was closing for the day. Skimpily clad girls who were supposed to be erstwhile Miss. America were shaking their booty because the market got bigger that day and this was being telecast live by Fox news.

I may be a conservative who believes in the dictum " A rupee saved( wisely) is a rupee earned".

But I'm happy with this policy of mine because of which I am not affected by these ups and downs of the sensex. The U.S. government is squandering tax payer's money to ride overe this economic crisis brought about by these charlatans who acted intemperately for a number of years in squandering the public money which was given to them in all faith and for which they were being paid obscene salaries.This is going to become only more and more disastrous due to the vicious cycle created by all these nincompoops.

mentor mohan

Hinduism a way of life

Hi,

Musing#23

The recent incidents of attack on the christians at Orissa and Mangalore by Some Hindu fundamentalist is highly deplorable and shameful. Who are these self proclaimed protectors of Hindu religion, who by these dreadful acts have exhibited only their shallow knowledge about the religion they are supposed to be following and protecting. Like in my previous blog through this blog I'm writing an open letter to drill some sense and understanding into all those misguided souls who claim to be Hindus and indulge in senseless violence and show scant respect for followers of other faith.

An Open letter to the ignorant and misguided Hindu bretherns

Hello brother,

Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan our past president and a great philosopher had said "Hinduism is not a religion but a way of life". Yes, this is the absolute truth. A true Hindu is one who believes in the dictum "Vasudeve Kutumbakam". That is the whole world is one family. Hence all human beings irrespective of race, religion or nation are related to each other. Then how can we be intolerant of our own brothers just because their beliefs are different or they want to change their belief and follow different faith.

The great Sankaracharya propounded the truth that there is only One reality, which is Sat Chit Ananda. This is an indivisible, all pervasive conscious Supreme Power that is seen in multifarious forms(Ekam eva advitiyam).In Upasana(worship) of the forms of the Divine there are bound to be variations. This is the reason why in Hinduism God is in different forms and worshipped in different names. Even your perception of Krishna will be different from mine because our conditioning(vasanas) is different. But in Jnana, the ultimate Reality is identical for all of us..... (Tattvaloka 07/08).

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa told one of his follower that it doesn't matter in which form we worship God but with what sincerity we worship. He showed him a pair of sandals and told him that even he can worship the sandal but with all sincerity and that would be equivalent to worshipping Him.( Recollect Ramayana where Bharath worships the sandal of Sri Ram and carries it on his head). Sanatana Dharma the tenet on which Hinduism is understood stands for full faith in God and not on rituals.

The practice of all religions is in the pursuit of Truth. Each individual has the right to pursue the Truth the way he wants and that is what is Free will is all about. Some one does not believe in allopathy so he switches over to homeopathy. Does he require anyone's sanction for this? We believe in so many Avatar Purush. Why not accept Jesus Christ also as one among them.

All these years there was no issue of people following whichever faith they wanted to follow in our country. Mixing religion with politics is a deadly and explosive combination and I appeal to all my bretherns not to fall prey into the hands of selfish politicians who always exploit religion for their personal benefit. Awake and don't become puppets in the hands of vile politicians.

Ultimately all rivers have to merge with the ocean in the end even if they had follwed different courses on their way. Like how a river in spate can cause destruction and misery, similarly a religion in spate also will cause only destruction and misery.

mentor mohan

p.s. Pl. also go through my blog #19 to get still a better understanding

An Open Letter to the misguided souls

Hi,

Musing#22

An Open letter to the misguided souls

One more serial blast.... Someone lost a grown up son, someone lost a husband.... may be the only bread winner for the family, some young child lost his father and the sad thing is the gravity of the loss also he can not understand. It is heart wrenching-distressing and disgusting. What for? Who gains with the loss of these innocent lives and in split second the lives of the near and dear ones of these departed souls are shattered. My anguish and agony I am venting out with this open letter to the perpetrators of these dastardly acts. They may or may not read this letter. But my appeal to all those who go through this is to forward this open letter to as many people as possible so that it has a cascading effect and may be read by one of these troubled souls or at least prevent more vulnerable souls to join this deadly bandwagon.

Hello Misguided souls,

Yet again you have usurped the role of God and caused death and destruction. Devout Muslims believe that everything should happen as per God's wish(Insha Allah) which is right. To give life or to take life is on His mercy, then what right you have to take the lives of innocent people that too in the name of God. This is the Holy month for the devout Muslims and only good deeds are expected to be carried out so that the Lord is pleased and the soul goes to Heaven. All devout Muslims are observing this Holy Month in a pious way by prayers and good deeds and getting the blessings of Allah The Merciful. But with these unholy acts, misguided people like you are gathering only more and more of His Wrath. If you are under the impression that by these acts, you are indulging in noble acts, and you are going to be accepted in Heaven with open arms ,you are totally misguided and mistaken.

It is aptly said that terrorists don't have any religion. In the name of religion these dastardly acts carried out by you is only creating more and more problems to your own honest brethren and many youngsters are totally confused about their religious beliefs. Instead of strengthening their faith you are only making them to get more and more alienated.

In the name of Allah The Merciful ,I and all the peace loving people appeal to you not to get misguided and indulge in these deadly acts which is only causing misery to innocent families.

I stay near a mosque and I keep listening to the soulful call for the prayers(Azaan) five times a day which is making me also pray from my house for the good of one and all. In my prayers I will now pray to Allah The Merciful that He guides you properly so that you do not indulge in these Ungodly acts.

ALLAH...... O............AKBAR.

mentor mohan

Life worth living--- Ikigai

Hi,

Musing#21

We all know how having an high I.Q.(Intelligence quotient) benefits people in their profession and enhances their earning potential substantially. But did you know that high I.Q. also enhances people's life span substantially. This I.Q. is different. This is called Ikigai quotient.

Ikigai in Japanese means "joy and a sense of well-being from being alive".

A study was done at Tohoku university graduate school of medicine-Sendai in Japan, where in 43391 men and women(age 40-79 years) were asked "Do they have ikigai in their life?". Their responses were recorded and regular follow up was done over a period of seven years. The findings were that people with no sense of ikigai were 50% more likely to die earlier due to cardio vascular diseases, stroke and other external causes like suicides. On the contrary people who responded that they are having Ikigai in their life were more healthy and were likely to increase their life span by 9 years.

"We make a Living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." This saying of Sir Winston Churchill carries lot of meaning. Many in today's world feel that their life is empty and meaningless because they are unhappy with what they are getting, whether in terms of money, love, recognition etc. But if they can only introspect what they can give to others, not only in terms of money but also in terms of their affection, love, help, acknowledgement etc. and start giving, then their whole life will undergo a transformation. They will realise now that their life is full and meaningful.

Look at those trees, they are having Ikigai in abundance because they keep giving in many ways like shade, flowers, fruits, oxygen, wood and that's the reason the trees live longer.

Happiness and Joy, in giving creates a virtuous cycle. We can be happy only if our neighbours are happy. So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and start giving whatever you can and enhance your I.Q.(Ikigai quotient) and live healthy and long.

mentor mohan.

Mother of all religions..........(Humanity).... contd

Hi,

Musing#20

Many devout religious persons claim they are 'very God fearing persons'. When God is Himself Embodiment of all pervading love, then why anybody should be fearing God? On the contrary, only 'God loving persons' should be referred to as very devout 'bhakt' of God. God loving people love all the creations of God-flora, fauna and also all the fellow human beings. They take utmost care to protect and nurture all God's creations. In fact in every creation of His they see Him in His full glory. All those atheist who keep shouting from the roof tops that there is no God are actually blind to their surroundings and are not able to perceive Him through all His creations. They see only the beast in the beauty around, rather than seeing the beauty in the beasts also. Let them first ensure that they have seen and experienced all His creations spread across the nook and corner of our world and then come and give their opinion about God.

May be because of this only in one religion He is worshipped in different forms as manifestation of His own creations or may be because of this only in another religion He is worshipped as devoid of any form as He can not be depicted completely in all His splendour.

Hence every religion mean the same in the final analysis.

There may be one hundred billion creations in this universe but the Creator is Only One.

Some worship Him as Ram and some others worship Him as Rahim,

Some worship Him as Krishna and some others worship Him as Christ.

Some see Him in the Sun and some others see Him in the Moon,

Some see Him in the Cross and some others see Him in the Trident.

Some get to be pious by reading the Gita and some others by reading the Granth,

Some get to be pious by reading the Holy Bible and some others by reading the Holy Koran.

some end the Prayer by saying Amen and some others with Aameen and still some others start their prayers by reciting Om.(Phonetically all are similar).

If every one realises this truth, then they are deemed to be liberated. As it is said in the Holy Bible "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free"(John8:32). To know the truth what is essential is The Brahman IE. knowledge. Brahman(knowledge) is what the Upanishads have been preaching from the time immemorial. The pursuit of knowledge opens the doors to many truths and that is when the revelations come one after the other. Hence,

God is Truth

To sum it up,

God is Love and Love is God

God is Truth and Truth is God.

mentor mohan