Snip Snip… Its Recession time!

So, I guess if you have not heard about the global recession then either you are blind and deaf and mute AND live in a cave somewhere in the Himalayas, or are Steve Job. But like seriously, most of us ARE affected by the recession in one way or the other. People are loosing jobs, some have their pay cut, some are assured of no incentives or some businesses are spending less. Infact, I hear (unconfirmed) that the great L&T has cut 20% of peoples pay but has made it a 4 day week BUT is working on two shifts system which ensures work on all 7 days of the week!
However there is one job which is not affected through this recession… Barbers! (n I am NOT going to say Saloon or remove this post from my blog, like SRK, because of some association somewhere has a problem with the calling their profession a Barber!)
Seriously think of it, all men have facial hair, be it head or chin. Some men like to shave at home while others go to the barber. But I am sure no man (not many if there are any) who cuts his hair at home! (I tried it once n it was a disaster!) So, putting on my Economics cap, the haircut is the fixed income, and the shaves etc. are the variable. I mean NO man will say that I will spend less and not have a haircut just because of the recession in the economy! I am sure after a couple of months when he has to invest in hair clips to part his hair from blocking his vision, someone will tell him to GO CUT HIS HAIR! And even fewer will go in search of an alternate barber who is cheaper than his current one just to beat the heat! (again I am the exception here, coz I found this saloon at Century which was cheaper than my regular guy across the main road, who just A/C’ed the place hence increased prices. So I walk to Century to get a haircut. Though just recently the century place has caught up on costs but I still go coz it’s a catholic establishment) So where were we? Ya so the best job it seems right now, is that of a barber! And also, besides the shaves n haircuts, there are also those who come for massages and hair dye and facials!! Those could be bonuses!! Then there are tips which are given sometimes… that could go under misc. income. (ok I will REMOVE the Economics cap now…) you just need to set up shop where there are lots of men (try planet earth) and you are done!! And you don’t have to worry about long term job security, coz as time goes by more and more boys will hit puberty and there will be more hair to cut! (ohhh stop you filthy souls!) So ya, lets give up all those high profile jobs and lets get forget all that years of education and lets start making money!

Oh needless to say that this does not hold true on women… coz your haircuts are like 75 & 100 bucks n stuff and if you get a job in the saloon, you will probably want to try out the manicure and the special waxing and the facials n what nots, which obviously you will want for free since you work there… Very soon you will be using more than what you will be getting paid for… so that wont keep your job safe for very long… I hope you have figured out this, or do I have to reach out for my economics cap??

And ya, did I mention that I got a haircut recently!!

Quarter-life Crisis

This was a mailer sent to me... I think it is ABSOLUTELY APT for explaining what's going on in a Twenty something year olds mind...

BEING IN TWENTIES - SOMETHING... :) It is when you stop going along with the crowd and start realizing that there are many things about yourself that you didn't know and may not like. You start feeling insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two, but then get scared because you barely know where you are now. You start realizing that people are selfish and that, maybe, those friends that you thought you were so close to aren't exactly the greatest people you have ever met, and the people you have lost touch with are some of the most important ones. What you don't recognize is that they are realizing that too, and aren't really cold, catty, meanor insincere, but that they are as confused as you. You look at your job... and it is not even close to what you thought you would be doing, or maybe you are looking for a job and realizing that you are going to have to start at the bottom and that scares you. Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see what others are doing and find yourself judging more than usual because suddenly you realize that you have certain boundaries in your life and are constantly adding things to your list of what is acceptable and what isn't. One minute, you are insecure and then the next, secure. You laugh and cry with the greatest force of your life. You feel alone and scared and confused. Suddenly, change is the enemy and you try and cling on to the past with dear life, but soon realize that the past is drifting further and further away, and there is nothing to do but stay where you are or move forward. You get your heart broken and wonder how someone you loved could do such damage to you. Or you lie in bed and wonder why you can't meet anyone decent enough that you want to get to know better. Or maybe you love someone but love someone else too and cannot figure out why you're doing this because you know that you aren't a bad person. You want to settle down for good because now all of a sudden that becomes top priority. Getting wasted and acting like an idiot starts to look pathetic. You begin to think a companion for life is better than a hundred in the shack and for once you would not mind standing tall for that special someone which otherwise you had never thought of until now. You go through the same emotions and questions over and over, and talk with your friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to make a decision. You worry about loans, money, the future and making a life for yourself... and while winning the race would be great, right now you'd just like to be a contender! What you may not realize is that every one reading this relates to it. We are in our best of times and our worst of times, trying as hard as we can to figure this whole thing out. Send this to yourtwenty-something friends.... maybe it will help someone feel like they aren't alone in their state of confusion... We call it the "Quarter-life Crisis"

The Wonders of Technology!!

I know Marco will be more than happy to read this one.. and possibly contribute as well…

Now I know we live in the 21st Centuary n all that.. and that we have reached such far advancements that you get cell phones with memory which is slightly less than MY COMPUTERS!! ( ya I got a real old system at home..)
But today was possibly one of those realization moments for me… I was chatting with my good friend Rowena online today… she was telling me about how loverly Coorg is and how she wants to take forward her holidaying idea online… (Rowena does bookings for those people who want to holiday in Coorg, with staying, transport everything…) so right now she is doing this by sending all her friends details about holidaying in Coorg via mail and how to contact her, and then count on their referrals and word-of-mouth to spread the word.. so she was now looking at making a website… so she asked me about details and stuff.. (since I am in a Media Agency) and I in turn asked my Good Friend Natasha if she could help out Rowena.. (Natasha is my chirpy friend from office who recently got married, to a handsome hunk I must say, and now is in Chennai) so Nats told me to get Rowena to get in touch with her..
So I shared email i.d.s and within a matter of 10mins, Rowena added Natasha on G Talk, they chatted and shared ideas and costs, finalized on something (rough) and now Natasha is going to share and estimate of the total cost of the work with Rowena on Monday! All this in TEN MINUTES and with Rowena being in Coorg, Natasha in Chennai and ME in Mumbai(that too Kanjurmarg)!!
Now THAT surely speaks volumes of the reach of technology and making the world smaller by shrinking boundaries and blurring out borders!

Is this Mumbai’s Protection?

It is surprising how the Police of Mumbai always end up doing things which often just don’t make sense! I wonder if any of you folks went to Shivaji Park of late.. If you do go there late in the night now, you will find no one there! Just not a single person! This is the same Shivaji Park which is smack in the middle of the city.. The same Shivaji Park which was our last open garden where you could go walk or run or jog anytime of the day or night, without being judged… This is the same Shivaji Park, where I have spent many hours just sitting and chatting and felt safe and secure without a threat or worry!

I was really surprised last night, when I visited one of my favourite hangouts… Not a soul around… nobody sitting and talking… no families come out after dinner and sit and chat… no aunties or uncles jogging or walking.. nothing! Not even the beggers (tempted to say slumdogs) Nor the actual dogs barking around! It was E M P T Y!!!
No wait, there were people around…. COPS!

These cops were shooing off people who, after having a nice quite time at Baristas & C.C.D., were wanting to sit and chat a little more on the pavement of the park.. BUT WHY?? Do you feel people sitting in a jeans and T and come with nothing but wallets in their hands at 12.30 in the night, would be planning to bomb the city? Or be carting around explosives! Get real man… Instead of the cops patrolling open spaces and shooing off people who have a life, they should be patrolling the slums and the various entrances to the city, to watch out for suspicious activity… I mean poverty can drive a person towards crime.. not coffee!!
It is almost like the Police are putting the fear in people and being the Terrorists here! I mean, they intrude into your life, disrupt your fun and waste your time and threaten to take you to the station… for what? Standing close to a girl in a public area for the whole world to see!! Stop the Moral policing and just protect our lives!! Do your job of protecting the people.. and Not threatening the people!!

So where does leave us, partying night loving people? No place to go, no place to hang out… well, by the look of things, either the Police Station or Home!!
Shanghai!! Ya right!!

The Misrepresentation of India

India has been getting into the spotlight of late with the success of the movie Slumdog Millionaire, but is the representation of India fair? What brings me to this question? Two factors, well actually 2 movies…
Lets start with Slumdog Millionaire. I am sure that most of you have seen this movie by now and have either come back with a happy feeling, or feel like it was just another movie… What ironically the movie is meant to be about, is a love story and not a story of rags to riches! (Quoting the Director and main cast from their respective appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno) The point I am trying to bring out here is that yes, although India is poorer than the US and other so-called ‘Developed’ Countries, we are not known only for our poverty! We are being stereotyped into this third world place where we are the world’s garbage dump! The slums ARE a huge part of Mumbai, but Mumbai is know for many more things than just its slums!! We have some of the richest men in the world living here! (Read Ambani’s, Tata’s, Birla’s etc.) We are after all the financial capital of India! We have some of the most expensive office spaces in the world! Standing in the league of office space of greats like New York and Wall Street. Hell Rolls Royce sold out all the cars they imported to Asia last year and India forced them to get more cars this gone calendar year than last!! (For those of you who must know, last year they sold 1212 cars, over 20% higher than the previous year’s figure of 1010 cars sold in India) Yes, the super luxury marquee Rs. 5 Crore car sold One Thousand and Ten Units in India last year, that’s 5050 Crore Rupees changed hands last year…

If not money then technology! We recently completed our first mission to the moon, which carried equipment for none other than NASA! In sports, we had a very good run at the Australian Open (Tennis), Saina Nehwal is in the Top 10 rankings in Woman’s Badminton. We are (finally) winning in the Hockey tournament in Punjab. Our wonder Boy Vishvinathan Anand is the World Chess Champion and the Snooker World Champions have mostly been Indians. Surely we all are not living in Slums!

What particularly left a bad taste in my mouth, was the other movie ‘Outsourced’. Talking of the typical BPO boom which swept the city, albeit Nation a few years ago and made India the Call Centre Capital of the world! A Typical story of an Amercian who sees his job vanishing as Indians are doing what he does, for less than half his charges!
What was bitterly wrong was the way Indians were depicted. Firstly, the story was shown to have taken place in a village on the outskirts of Mumbai, which made one assume that this land is full of only villages! Then our Foreigner Man falls in love with a head strong Indian woman(village woman mind you), only to leave her and go back home when his company finds a cheaper alternative to India. China!

The way we are portrayed shows Indians to be dumb and to be ridiculed upon. Now I do have a lighter side to life and I will give in to the argument of ‘Freedom of Expression’, but to what extent? To dumb us down to such an extent that the Ambani’s and the Tata’s of India are forgotten? Only to be replaced by an old man who scratches his arse to depict WHY we consider our left hand dirty! (which I am not sure is entirely true!) If dumbing us down was done on purpose just to make an award winning movie, (yes it won some International Film Festival awards) then I think the actors, if not the director, should have thought twice before going out of their way to humiliate us Indians! If it was made to purely garner some laughs, then ok, I will keep my mouth shut. But by showing us all in a bad light? Not done honey!


So what’s the bottom line here?
Well, I just wanted to get you thinking…
Don’t believe what you see in movies?
There is more to it than what meets the eye…

Here I am.. this is Mi!

Hey there!
Welcome to my blog! Acctually I should be welcoming myself to my blog first!! Coz I created it!
So what can you look forward to reading on my Blog? Well.. All about Mi!! (ya I know what you are thinking.. he sounds a bit self centered!!)
Well, the thing is that, I love to go on yapping and yapping and spreading gyaan of all the things I have seen and heard, which I feel the need to share.. so Hence I thougth, why single out a person and go on yapping to them, why not yapp to the whole wide world!!!
Sounds neat na!!
Keep reading this space!