Overheard

A couple of conversations I overheard over the weekend!

At BigBazar: A father, accompanying his two teenage daughters, speaking over mobile phone. 'Where else? Shopping! You see! All I do these days is nothing but chauffeuring and swipeing credit cards!'

A chat between my wife, my three year old son and neighbour's son of same age:

My wife: a person who flies an aircraft is a pilot! A person who sails a ship is a captain! Now, you know this one, who drives a car?

The kids in unison, 'daddy!'

It appears that it is not without a reason many men out there fear marriage!

Oz – Indian students are targeted!

There was a perception that Indian people were "weak prey" for criminals, Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe was quoted as saying by the media here."I don't think they are (racist crimes) in general ...more opportunistic activity. We think they (Indians) are vulnerable, we don't think it's racial, we think they are a weak target."

Police have repeatedly denied that race was a factor in the attacks, arguing that Indian students were often simply in the wrong place at the wrong time as they travelled home late at night with items such as mobile phones and iPods.

What a lame response from an establishment, which is meant to protect the "week" and have extra vigilance at the "wrong" places!

Sarvam

It is not that everyday you get to see talent and hardwork wasted mindlessly. Amazing art direction, wonderful costumes and clever blend of graphics with choreography; none of this had a chance against an absurd storyline and screenplay.

In spite of their general inability to emote varied expressions, you expect to see the leads Arya and Trisha in better movies. Their experience in the industry must have taught them something when it comes to choosing the right movies to act!

Rupa says this movie is from the same director who did Pattial. Hard to believe!

Anyway, I walked out of the theatre with few unanswered questions, though. Was Trisha's death before the intermission as per the original storyline or she requested to be killed off the movie! Was Arya's poisoning his attempt to commit suicide for accepting to act in this movie or part of the original screenplay! I will never know!

Exit-poll results Vs Results

As I write this blog, the Indian Parliament election result is being announced. The trend shows that the election pundits are once again proved to be inefficient in predicting the results. They predicted that JMM would be deciding the next government. For the uninitiated, JMM is Ms. Jayalalitha, Ms. Mamata and Ms. Mayavathi! The pundits predicted that NDA would form the next government with the support of JMM. They predicted UPA may get only as many if not less number of seats as NDA. The results speak a different story!

The media and the pundits used scientific methods and proper sampling for the survey. They partnered professional consumer survey companies to increase the accuracy of their predictions. In spite of such measures, they were caught unaware by the actual results. I wonder if their prediction mechanisms took voter's psych into consideration. It has been rumored that, this year more than any other years in the past, voters were paid to vote for a particular candidate. If that's true, what would the voters say when they were approached by the surveyors? Of course, they would say they voted for the party that paid them money even if they have voted for some other party. They have no reason to believe that the surveyor is actually from a post-poll surveying company and not someone from the party that paid them money. I don't know if the surveying companies considered this possibility!

If this reason is true or even partially true, then it can skew the results. If that's the case, can we then assume those parties that were predicted to win during the post-poll but lost when the actual results were announced, were actually that parties that paid the voters! Ineteresting!!

Registering your name in the list Vs Voting

Ah! Did I say registering my name in the voters list was easy (Election koothu!)? Of course it was easy! But that does not necessarily mean your name will figure in the final list. After two visits to the Taluk office, I was confident that my name would be there in the final voters list. Hm! Hm! someone in the election commission decided that Mr. Kamal Haasan and I shouldn't be voting this election! Though I was very disappointed that my name did not find a place in the list and I could not vote, it was a big consolation that even someone as popular as Mr. Kamal Haasan was dropped from the list! Praise democracy and equal treatment to all!!

Pay the voters or make the voters pay?

We have heard enough of candidates paying voters to listen to their propaganda. It is a big business during election time. Agents pick up loads of people from huts and villages to the meeting venue; arrange snacks and lunch for them; depending on the venue of the meeting, they arrange for site seeing; and finally pay them for their day's 'work'!

That's old news! Have you heard of a politician who makes his voters pay to listen to his propaganda? Here comes Mr. Vijayakanth, actor/politician from TN. This smart politician has been timing his movies, which is loaded with political overtures and his party's propaganda, in such a way that his die-hard fans pay to watch his movie and listen to his propaganda as well.

Now isn't he a politician at the core?

Political Parties or Corporates?

The more we read the election news, it becomes clearer and clearer that political parties and Corporates are alike!

At the fore of the goal set is the desire to dominate the 'market' or profit.

The Corporates build their brand by constantly being in the news through advertisements, announcement of expansions, etc. So does the political parties! Every issue is looked at and judged for its potential to create news, sensation.

Individuals or small business owners pay upfront franchise fee to acquire rights. They run the franchise, make profits, pay at regular intervals to the corporate - all these happen using the brand image of the corporate. So does the candidates of the political parties. It is rumored that they pay hefty sums to get seats. They pay at regular intervals to the party to retain their 'rights'. They run their 'business' un-interrupted with the support of the brand image of their parties.

Corporates hire celebrities such as actors and sports persons as their brand ambassadors. Political parties are not far behind in recruiting celebrities. Well! Many leverage their celebrity status to float their own parties is a different story!

In both political parties and Corporates, many key people may enter and exit. However, the control generally remains with the promoter's family!

The similarities end when it comes to forging alliance, though! When the Corporates go for partnership or joint ventures, it is for long term, five or ten years. The political arena is unpredictable. The have one alliance for the incumbent govt., one before the election and one after the election!