Thy Experiments With Gandhi

No other Indian movie in recent history has attracted so many editorials and serious articles. No other Indian movie in recent history has made the nation sit back and reflect on the relevance of the ideals preached by the 'Father of the Nation' in the 21st Century. No other movie in the recent past has managed to mix comedy with a social message with such success. ‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’ (LRM) is undoubtedly a landmark in the history of Modern Indian Cinema.

So, how relevant is M.K.G. in the world of S.R.K. ? How relevant is ‘Swadeshi’ in the century of Globalization? How relevant is the focus on Cottage Industries in the era of Industrialization? How relevant are ideals on Celibacy and Austerity in the world of blatant Materialism? Not much really.

But as with the preachings of any great leader, some of Gandhi’s ideals remain contemporary even in this day and age. Lines like “Be the change you want to see in the world”, and “The most important battle to fight is overcoming ones own demons, fears and insecurities” will remain as useful in 2020, as they were in 1920. LRM has remixed Gandhism in an unprecedented manner.

A part of the film’s appeal also lies in the oxymoronic identity of the lead character. A funny-rogue, who leaves his core-competence to follow a non-violent path, is just the kind of character-contrast film-buffs would love. A humorous ghost, a benevolent step-mother, and a polite police-officer are some other oxymorons which might click in Bollywood.

Bollywood seems to have woken up to the commercial potential of sequels in a big way this season. Sequels and remakes can get a head-start over other films, by piggy backing on the success of their originals. But very few people today remember that the first Bollywood sequel, ‘Nigahen’ (starring Sridevi, Sunny Deol and Anupam Kher) was made in the late 80’s. It was the 2nd part of the hit ‘Nag-Nagin’ drama ‘Nagina’ (starring Sridevi, Rishi Kapoor and Amrish Puri). Perhaps the fact that ‘Nigahen’ sank without a trace at the Box Office, deterred hindi film makers from joining the sequel bandwagon for almost 2 decades.

Even in Hollywood, where sequels are more of a norm than an exception, only 2 sequels, Godfather-II and Terminator-II, have been regarded as better than the originals. In this regard, Bollywood seems to have started better, with ‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’ and ‘Krrish’ outdoing their predecessors.

Irony of the season:-

One of the accused for the Mumbai Bomb Blast’93 plays a disciple of the Mahatma in LRM.

Google Before Gargle :-)

In 1996, two university students were cutting their meal expenses in order to save money to be invested in their research project - BackRub. Back then people started their research work from libraries; 'BackRub' changed the way research is begun - today research starts at Google.

In the past couple of years, Google has become a phenomenon - a noun, which is now a verb, being synonymous with search.

I am a self-professed Google Maniac. I use more than 10 different Google services daily. As I have mentioned before, the growth of Arbit Choudhury owes a lot to Google. Google has helped me, Hemant and Nikhil seamlessly co-ordinate and synchronies our activities from 3 different parts of the world. Archiving truckloads of fan mails on GMail, discussing Arbit plans on GChat, scheduling Arbit activities on Google Calender, simultaneously working on Arbit documents on Writely, and reaching out to Arbit fans through Orkut, Google has been the life blood of Arbit e-volution.

And we are not alone. Google, with it’s innovation and imagination, as won over the hearts of net-izans across the world. Google’s core strength lies in offering users products and services way beyond their expectations, and in doing so, transforming the entire landscape of the industry. Right from creating the revolutionary PageRank algorithm for search, to providing virtually unlimited storage and handy conversation based GMail, to seamlessly integrating Messenger services with e-mail, Google has constantly given it’s user more than they ever hoped for. And by doing this, it has left all competition playing a hopeless catch-up game.

With all the wonderful innovations Google has brought so far, it has also raised the bar for itself in the future. Google users will continue to expect such extra-ordinary innovations in the future too. Quoting a famous Sidhuism, “The best way to make people remember good deeds is to keep repeating them”, Google will have to continue surprising people with wonderful products and services in future too. And I have no doubt they will succeed.

In it’s birthday month, here is Arbit Choudhury’s tribute to the phenomenon called Google..

P.S.:- Click on the phrase to know more about "Google Before Gargle" :-)

Science Friction

Man is the undisputed ruler of Planet Earth. This is because he is far more intelligent than any other specie on the planet. Many other creatures might be more physically powerful, but non can match the intellectual prowess processed by man. But does this give man a right to interfere with the lives of other residents of the planet. Does it give him the right to clear off thousands of acres of rain-forests every year? Does it give him a right to relentlessly poach wild animals to the brink of extinction? Does it give him the right to irrevocably damage Earth’s eco-system? Are the other inhabitants of the planet not equal stake-holders in deciding it’s fate?

Before this post begins to seem like one written by a Green Peace activist, let me come to the central theme. It is widely believed that Dolphins are very close to humans in terms of intelligence. It is just that they have not had a need to hone their mental faculties in the same way that humans have, because they are so well equipped to live in their habitat.

Consider this, suppose Mother Earth’s evolutionary mechanism had conspired in such a way that another equally intelligent specie had began to evolve at the same time as humans. Would these 2 independently intelligent species have found a way to mutually co-exist in peace? Or would both of them have considered the other’s presence as a threat on it’s own existence? Would they form a symbiotic relationship, and help each other in their growth and evolution? Or would they fight a cataclysmic battle for sole supremacy over Planet Earth?

I am not sure how the other intelligent specie would have behaved. But I damn well know what we humans would do.

“..Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with its surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply, and multiply until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet.. ” Agent Smith to Neo- The Matrix

Happy Birthday Arbit !!

Yes, Arbit Choudhury turns 2 today. It was on September 5th 2004, that the World’s 1st B-school (MBA) Comic Character was born. Little did I know at that time, that I would still be involved with him 2 years down the line; that me, Hemant and Nikhil would work across international boundaries and time-zones, to keep him active; that the Arbit Choudhury Yahoo Group will become one of the largest Yahoo Groups in the Comic Strips category; and that people from across sectors, backgrounds and countries would love him so much.

On the occasion of his 2nd birthday, we have decided to give a special gift to all Arbit Choudhury fans across the globe. We have launched the new and improved Arbit Choudhury Website today.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all Arbit fans who have loved reading Arbit Comic Strips, forwarded them to their friends, batchmates and colleagues, and sent us their ideas and feedback on Arbit. We promise to keep bringing you more of Arbit’s brand of Management Masti and B-school Balderdash in the future too.