We don’t often get to see TV advertisements from banks. And that’s precisely the reason why the ad from IDBI bank comes as a whiff of fresh air soothing the jaded nerves of the harassed TV viewer.
We see 2 kids playing football in a clearing when the ball lands somewhere beyond. One of the kids who goes to retrieve it comes across an elephant. The elephant kicks the ball towards the kid who collects it and beats a hasty retreat. The camera lingers on the elephant for a bit.
In the next frame we again see the kids – school bags slung on backs – cautiously peering at the clearing. Satisfied that the pachyderm is not in sight they are about to start their play when one of them looks over the shoulder of the other kid. The other kid turns around to see the same elephant standing there – with a baby elephant in tow. The baby approaches the ball and starts playing with the kids. The tagline – Not just for the big boys. Point taken!
And hats off to the guy/gal who thought of this one! I have found myself lingering over the ad breaks to check if the ad airs – can’t get enough of the baby elephant with its big floppy ears. :-)
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Thumbs up for Thums Up!
Market research conducted by AC Nielsen has shown that even 3 decades after it was launched Thums Up remains India’s largest selling aerated drink. I am not surprised. I have always preferred it over Coke and Pepsi and I choose only the best :-)
I have often mentioned on this blog that I am not a regular movie-goer. I also avoid movies that deal with closer-to-reality or emotional subjects, preferring instead to go for comedies, thrillers or plain horror flicks. I have often been chided for this by some of my friends who still the nurse the hope of reforming me ;-)
Having said that, I want to mention that there are some movies which I have managed to see – in part or full – over the years despite their falling in my “forbidden” category. One of them is Amar Prem. I was amused when my mom told me that Rajesh Khanna was so popular at the peak of his career that girls used to write him letters in their own blood. “Yuck!” was the only reaction my mom got from me. Of course this tidbit wasn’t enough to make me watch the movie and Sharmila Tagore didn’t help the matters much because I have always thought that she speaks in a “put-on” voice. Yet, I somehow managed to watch this movie once on a Saturday afternoon and I am glad I did.
The reason I remember Amar Prem now is because the nine day festival of Navaratri has begun. If you don’t get the connection, think about the end of the movie. That is one of the scenes forever etched in my memory and will be forever linked to Navaratri. As a child, Vinod Mehra has received lot of affection and love from Pushpa (played by Tagore) who lives in a Kotha. Towards the end of the movie we see her as an old woman who has to clean the utensils to make both ends meet even if it means listening to all the abuse heaped on her. It’s hard perhaps for my generation to understand why she and the character of Rajesh Khanna don’t get married. But anyways, Vinod Mehra, now grown up, comes to meet her. He is now married and has a kid of his own. It is then that Khanna suggests that he take her with him to his place as she needs his care and affection.
And so we see Vinod Mehra taking Tagore home in a riksha as they pass a procession carrying Goddess Durga to her pandal. One mother is coming home to her devotees, the other is going home to her son. I will always remember Amar Prem for this scene!
Happy Navaratri Everyone :-)
Having said that, I want to mention that there are some movies which I have managed to see – in part or full – over the years despite their falling in my “forbidden” category. One of them is Amar Prem. I was amused when my mom told me that Rajesh Khanna was so popular at the peak of his career that girls used to write him letters in their own blood. “Yuck!” was the only reaction my mom got from me. Of course this tidbit wasn’t enough to make me watch the movie and Sharmila Tagore didn’t help the matters much because I have always thought that she speaks in a “put-on” voice. Yet, I somehow managed to watch this movie once on a Saturday afternoon and I am glad I did.
The reason I remember Amar Prem now is because the nine day festival of Navaratri has begun. If you don’t get the connection, think about the end of the movie. That is one of the scenes forever etched in my memory and will be forever linked to Navaratri. As a child, Vinod Mehra has received lot of affection and love from Pushpa (played by Tagore) who lives in a Kotha. Towards the end of the movie we see her as an old woman who has to clean the utensils to make both ends meet even if it means listening to all the abuse heaped on her. It’s hard perhaps for my generation to understand why she and the character of Rajesh Khanna don’t get married. But anyways, Vinod Mehra, now grown up, comes to meet her. He is now married and has a kid of his own. It is then that Khanna suggests that he take her with him to his place as she needs his care and affection.
And so we see Vinod Mehra taking Tagore home in a riksha as they pass a procession carrying Goddess Durga to her pandal. One mother is coming home to her devotees, the other is going home to her son. I will always remember Amar Prem for this scene!
Happy Navaratri Everyone :-)
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Marker – Robin Cook
I am not one of those who faint at the sight of their own blood. On the contrary, when I watch shows like ER I fleetingly regret not choosing medicine as a career. However, I must confess that a lurid description of the journey of sperm right from when enters the female body till it successfully starts conception was a bit too much for my taste. It was a great way of starting the novel but a little uncalled-for in my opinion. I almost put the book down after the first page.
Another trip to the library in the near future was rather uncertain however and so I decided to make the best of things. I am glad I did because I liked the rest of the book despite the fact that the protagonists – Laurie Montgomery and her friend-cum-boyfriend Jack Staplenton - both work as medical examiners. I rather stay away from books that use city morgues or cemeteries for their plots. :-(
So now, onto the storyline in a nutshell. Laurie is just about fed up with her colleague, friend and boyfriend Jack’s indecisiveness on the subject of marriage and children. Aware that at 43 her biological clock is ticking loud and clear, she decides to move out of Jack’s place. Like most of us, she doesn’t have a clue as to what life has in store for her right around the corner. During the course of autopsies, she comes across a rather curious occurance of apparently healthy patients dying of sudden cardiac failure after a simple operation in a prestigious city hospital. What’s more, all these patients are subscribers of the managed care Insurance giant AmeriCare.
As the corpses pile on, the possibility of the whole situation being a coincidence rapidly falls but Laurie is helpless as there are few takers for her theory of a serial killer being on the loose. This mystery on the professional front is what keeps her from falling apart because of the problems crowding her personal life - like an eminent collapse of her relationship with Jack and rather chilling implications of her mother’s breast cancer.
Laurie fights on though and discovers a truth that is enough to send a chill down the spine of any reader who realizes the possibility of this happening in the real life because of the advances in the medical science and the limitless greed of humans. A good read!
Another trip to the library in the near future was rather uncertain however and so I decided to make the best of things. I am glad I did because I liked the rest of the book despite the fact that the protagonists – Laurie Montgomery and her friend-cum-boyfriend Jack Staplenton - both work as medical examiners. I rather stay away from books that use city morgues or cemeteries for their plots. :-(
So now, onto the storyline in a nutshell. Laurie is just about fed up with her colleague, friend and boyfriend Jack’s indecisiveness on the subject of marriage and children. Aware that at 43 her biological clock is ticking loud and clear, she decides to move out of Jack’s place. Like most of us, she doesn’t have a clue as to what life has in store for her right around the corner. During the course of autopsies, she comes across a rather curious occurance of apparently healthy patients dying of sudden cardiac failure after a simple operation in a prestigious city hospital. What’s more, all these patients are subscribers of the managed care Insurance giant AmeriCare.
As the corpses pile on, the possibility of the whole situation being a coincidence rapidly falls but Laurie is helpless as there are few takers for her theory of a serial killer being on the loose. This mystery on the professional front is what keeps her from falling apart because of the problems crowding her personal life - like an eminent collapse of her relationship with Jack and rather chilling implications of her mother’s breast cancer.
Laurie fights on though and discovers a truth that is enough to send a chill down the spine of any reader who realizes the possibility of this happening in the real life because of the advances in the medical science and the limitless greed of humans. A good read!
The description of emergency revival procedures brought back memories when I had once visited an emergency room of a major hospital. That was during my B school days. One of my quadmates – who also is a very good friend - had fallen down from a bike sometime during the afternoon. She had dismissed the discomfort in her ankle as a minor cramp. But when the pain became unbearable by the evening she knocked on my door. A visit to the on-campus doctor revealed the possibility of a hairline fracture and an ambulance was called for.
Our other 2 quadmates had gone to their homes in the city on the weekend visit though a couple of other classmates offered to come along. But since the school had an arrangement with the hospital I decided that I would be able to manage. So both of us boarded the ambulance and soon were on our way to the hospital.
Till date I am not sure why she was taken to an ER because the fracture wasn’t that serious. Though I watch the shows on the medical world with great interest I am not very comfortable in hospitals. And the atmosphere in the emergency room didn’t do much to allay my slight anxiety. I looked around as I prayed that the technicians would arrive soon to get my friend x-rayed. Just then a curtain covering a nearby bed was parted slightly and I noticed a thin man lying on that bed. I am not sure whether I imagined it but I thought I noticed some froth at his mouth. The nurse put the curtain back into place but not before I had caught a glipse of a frail old woman pleading with the doctor. I didn’t mean to stare but I was embarrassed nevertheless at witnessing something which was clearly a private moment.
My friend must have sensed my unease because she told me that it looked like a suicide case by poisoning and urged me to ignore it. To my great relief, the technician walked in and we followed him to the x-ray room. In due course my friend was treated and the waiting ambulance carried us back to the campus. But I have, at times, wondered whether that thin figure on the bed survived after all :-(
Our other 2 quadmates had gone to their homes in the city on the weekend visit though a couple of other classmates offered to come along. But since the school had an arrangement with the hospital I decided that I would be able to manage. So both of us boarded the ambulance and soon were on our way to the hospital.
Till date I am not sure why she was taken to an ER because the fracture wasn’t that serious. Though I watch the shows on the medical world with great interest I am not very comfortable in hospitals. And the atmosphere in the emergency room didn’t do much to allay my slight anxiety. I looked around as I prayed that the technicians would arrive soon to get my friend x-rayed. Just then a curtain covering a nearby bed was parted slightly and I noticed a thin man lying on that bed. I am not sure whether I imagined it but I thought I noticed some froth at his mouth. The nurse put the curtain back into place but not before I had caught a glipse of a frail old woman pleading with the doctor. I didn’t mean to stare but I was embarrassed nevertheless at witnessing something which was clearly a private moment.
My friend must have sensed my unease because she told me that it looked like a suicide case by poisoning and urged me to ignore it. To my great relief, the technician walked in and we followed him to the x-ray room. In due course my friend was treated and the waiting ambulance carried us back to the campus. But I have, at times, wondered whether that thin figure on the bed survived after all :-(
I seriously think that Wall Street should now be called as Fall Street after the titans fell like a house of cards. Or as Mall Street - for God alone knows which bank is up for grabs next!
But as more and more people claiming ignorance of exotic acronyms like CDOs and CDSs are now coming out of the woodwork I cannot resist posting a quote by Burton Malkiel - the author of "A Random Walk Down Wall Street":
A blindfolded monkey throwing darts at a newspaper's financial pages could select a portfolio that would do just as well as one carefully selected by the experts. :-)
But as more and more people claiming ignorance of exotic acronyms like CDOs and CDSs are now coming out of the woodwork I cannot resist posting a quote by Burton Malkiel - the author of "A Random Walk Down Wall Street":
A blindfolded monkey throwing darts at a newspaper's financial pages could select a portfolio that would do just as well as one carefully selected by the experts. :-)
My own Amar Jawan Jyoti
For Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma, who was injured in the encounter in Jamia and later died in a Delhi hospital......
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