SJSA Part 2: Being out of the QUEUE : "The Jugaad Syndrome!"

Some habits die hard. And there are others which seem to be immortal. But the challenge is in changing habits which have a tendency to become a part of our genes, a part of our DNA!
Few months back, I was in a Taxi rushing to Airport and it broke down on its way. Though I was a bit anxious, Taxi driver moved out and restarted the vehicle in minutes. He came back and as we started moving ahead, he quipped with a grin “Jugaad se to hamara desh chal sakta hai sahab, ye to sirf gaadi hai!!” (By improvisation/work around, we can make our country run, this is only a car!) The words were simple, yet they left me thinking what this improvisation really means in our daily lives… I was not getting my answer…
Few days back, a friend of mine got a driving license after a lot of efforts to drive in one of the middle east country with a left hand drive. With a sigh of relief he confessed “ Though it is very difficult to get a license here, but driving here definitely makes us better drivers, do lane driving & being more systematic. It actually makes us Indians learn how to follow the rules & stay in the Queue”!! I finally had my answer to the Jugaad in our lives….

The message was short & crisp. If one analyses the concept of lane driving in our daily life, we will realize that we have become so habitual of breaking the rules, having that work around for any task; that it has reached a stage of giving us that satisfaction & a sense of pride! Be it the crime against women, or the inherent corruption in the system, be it the road side accidents or something as simple as standing in the queue for buying movie tickets, if one witness everything around; it would be clearly evident that the bottom line of every problem happens to be our habit of being Out of the queue. We want our erring neighboring countries to maintain treaties, we expect our Government to fulfill every election promise, we expect them to enact the laws with NO deviance to the way they are framed, we expect our company to be honest following the rule book to the hilt in favor of employees. But when it comes to us as individuals??? Well “I” have all the right to bypass the entire lane as the rules & queue are meant to be followed by everyone except me!! We want all the rights under the sun with an umbrella which shields us from all the responsibilities.

Today when we go through the news channels and news reports of our country, there is so much negative energy that it sometimes gets difficult to figure out if Media is creating this negativity or is it the negative lives of people which is getting reflected in the frames of media. But in either of the cases, the fact remains that if it is “WE” who are at receiving end of this apathy, it is only “WE” who need to be blamed for initiating this fire which seems to engulf one and all.
Thus “I” will continue to break the queues wherever possible: For buying the milk or movie tickets, for crossing the traffic signal or getting my kid enrolled in a school…. Its my habit of being out of the lane, the exemplary birth right of standing out of the Queue…

Lets get it right fellow Indians, the candle lights at India gate, ridiculing politicians on Facebook & Twitter, slamming virtually everyone from celebrity to Babus to our college principal is not going to change our nation for good. If there is going to be a start, it is going to be with “I, Me & Myself”… Let me sleep tonight with the promise of waking tomorrow in the queue of a Billion plus. Maybe our tomorrow would be better than today. Lets get in a queue… Happy Independence Day, Jai Hind :)

Why Modi's Gujarat model of Development & Governance needs to be taken to New Delhi...

The recent controversial, uncalled and unjustified comments from Home Minister Shinde followed by BJP hitting back at him and the Congress are events which hurt us as a country and make us sorry about the state of Indian politics. This is something which should certainly not set the tone for the 2014 polls as it is this divisionary politics which has held back the potential of this nation from being a global superpower. At the start of 2013, lets strongly take ahead an important aspect from Gujarat elections which will hold the key for a brighter future for all of us.Let there be no color of terror, no greed for quotas, let inclusive growth, opportunities for Youth, safety of women, corruption less governance with all round & inclusive development be more important to us than points which tend to divide us & which divert attention from core issues.

The last one month has been eventful on the Indian political landscape. If Gujarat saw another emphatic win from Mr. Modi, BJP with intentions of using corruption as a Major theme for 2014 decided against second term for Nitin Gadkari getting Rajnath Singh back as party President. On the other hand, Rahul Gandhi has been formally elevated to the number 2 position at Congress party at the recent Chintan Shivir at Jaipur.

Let’s get this straight; this is not a comparison between Modi & Rahul, not endorsing strengths or weakness of either of the party. Irrespective of our political affiliations and personal favorites, lets rally behind the reasons which should form the base for 2014 polls. Narendra Modi winning for a third consecutive time maybe important from the BJP perspective, but from the perspective of the Indians, this win holds significance due to the nature of this confrontation between the two biggest national parties. This is something which as Voters; we must endorse and carry forward to the Parliamentary polls commencing next year. Though Modi had won the state elections on couple of occasions earlier, this time it was different than his earlier wins. On previous occasions, it was more to do with polarization and emotive appeals and had less to do with rationale or merit behind results. However on this occasion, Modi fought totally on the development plank with performance & governance as the barometer to reward or discard him, the results have been thus strictly on merit and aspirations rather than the age old planks of divisional politics. The interesting part is that the areas where he has lost, even there local issues and challenges on the development front seem to be reasons of average performance, which in itself is a healthy trend for one and all. The Bihar elections of 2010 and now the Gujarat elections of 2012; it seems that the Indian electorate is finally starting to judge on merit and rewarding the performers consistently!! It may be a bit early to predict this as a trend, but in this environment of negativity, every positive movement is worth lapping. This is one of the rare positives, which must go in the next year!!

http://rochakvig.blogspot.com/2012/01/day-india-votes-for-development.html


Whether Mr. Modi succeeds in this endeavor, will be difficult to judge as governing a population of 6 Crore effectively does not guarantee a similar show in managing a heterogeneous population of 120 Crores with multiple diversities and complexities attached. It would also present UPA with an opportunity to break away NDA’s “Secular” allies and also polarize the minority vote further, but it would give them a headache of fighting elections on the Positive canvass, where they will have to talk about Development, governance, performance and public satisfaction!! Even when they are plotting the seeds for UPA-3 in terms of “Food Bill” & “Direct Cash Transfer”, it may not have a smooth sail knowing the current public mood which seems to be against the ruling front on issues of corruption, price rise and poor governance. Thus evident from Shinde's recent remarks, UPA in all likelihood may like to stick to its old guns blazing highlighting the “Non-Secular” image which BJP & Modi has been attributed to highlighting the dark chapter of 2002 if BJP projects him as their National face. Even when it would try and sell its latest game changing schemes as the products touching the “Garib Aadmi”, it would have to even play its vote bank cards appropriately to keep the electorate as well as coalition partners on their side to ride anti incumbency avoiding direct confrontation on the core topics. Frankly we would be much more happy Congress talking about Cash transfer, Food Bill & MNREGA rather than the color and religion of terror. UPA’s win or loss at center better is decided by the merit or lack of its performance in last 5 years rather than emotive appeals misleading the voters.

As far as BJP is concerned, it may be a tricky proposition. On the first thought, it seems that Modi with his clean, strong and good governance image may be the best bet for 2014 as their current leadership seems as clueless as the Congress led UPA; unable to convert the public anguish in its favor as a viable alternative. There are people who have started believing the point of social activist turned politician Kejriwal that there is NO OPPOSITION in India, all are partners in the game of looting with only different designations of Ruling front & opposition! It is high time BJP changes its earlier right wing politics along with this thought and whole heartedly approves and takes charge through its effective, performance based and popular brand of “Modi” hoping to amass support as an alternative, which Indians can look up to. It would definitely strengthen the favorable vote with possibility of having in its kitty additional bench sitters fed up from system who hailed Modi’s win from their respective states. Challenge would be to sell the promise of replicating the Gujarat Development Model on the national stage to fulfill the needs and aspirations of the public at large and also get together the so called Secular forces as one party getting clear majority seems distinct possibility.


If this aspirational politics of merit will actually succeed, next year will present us an answer, but as Indians we must hope that the contenders play the game with these rules of merit to serve with mutual respect for each other as against the age old Negative politics of hatred & promises!! Rahul Gandhi after assuming his role of Vice President has again sounded that he would like to play positive constructive politics which we all are desperately waiting for and if this turns out to be the case, we all should hail the Rahul-Modi showdown on the unseen positive canvass which can be a game changer for Indian politics and public alike. Hare Ram, Inshallah, Wahe Guru; we really hope a brighter, safer and content future for our and next generations; AND Modi bidding for the top slot at Delhi with his Gujarat governance model fighting against Rahul’s Positive politics is certainly a start to see the light beyond the tunnel. Amen :)
India has started voting for development and this is what it really Needs!!! Happy New Year…

Bollywood Box Office 2012 : It is Being Salman!!

The year 2012 has been a fairly good one for Bollywood from the Box Office perspective with both small budget and big budget films doing well. This is yet another year which has cemented Salman Khan as the undisputed “King/Badshah/Emperor” as far as the Box office is concerned, having just one contender who is close to him; and that is “Salman Khan”!!

There are a few trends coming from last year which have emerged stronger this year. If the action films had initiated a new trend with “Wanted” few years back, this year has ensured that its this genre which will call the shots as far as the successful list goes contributing the top 4 most successful movies of the year : Ek Tha Tiger, Dabangg2, Rowdy Rathore & Agneepath. Second trend which has gained significance this year is the importance of the opening weekend and contribution of Important Holidays in the first week of the film. If EK Tha Tiger continued Salman’s association with success @ Eid, it wrote history with an opening day of 32 Crores on the Independence Day. Dabangg 2 gained from Christmas holiday and Agneepath had a Huge opening on the Republic Day with record breaking 21.7 crores at Indian Box office. This was later eclipsed by the Tiger Salman on the Independence Day. Another trend which gained significance was that sequels to winning brands will succeed as long as they are packaged well: Housefulll2, Jannat 2, Raaz3 & Dabanng 2 all carried forward the success from their last outings.


If 100 Crore club has become the new buzz word @ Bollywood, Salman starrers get measured by the number of days they take to cross this magical figure! His last 5 films have cruised this mark : Dabangg, Ready, Bodyguard, EK Tha Tiger (ETT) & latest Dabangg2 have competed to cross the mark earlier than the previous one!! While Kabir Khan’s ETT had merit in becoming Blockbuster, Dabangg 2 seemed a replica of earlier version, only Chulbul Pandey making it click with the audiences! If this golden phase will be endless for him, only time will have an answer. But as of now its only Being Salman!! He has left all other stars including his Khan Competitors miles behind as far as the box office is concerned. Akshay Kumar had a successful year with 2 of his movies hitting the bulls eye with Sajid Khan’s Housefull 2 & Prabhu Deva directed Rowdy being years third biggest hit. With his production Oh My God getting universal applause along with superhit status and Khiladi 786 being an average fare, Joker was the only dampener for him in 2012. With 2 of his films in the Top 5 this year, he can certainly claim the year after Salman! He only needs to see if his 5 movies a year is a viable Business model considering every movie needs extensive marketing today. Hrithik made his mark with Agneepath this year. The Karan Johar production was the first Superhit of the year with critical acclaim for Hrithik as Amithabh’s legendary character Vijay Dinanath Chauhan & Sanjay Dutt shining as Kancha.

If Sallu swept with 2 Blockbusters, it was Amir who could not match the expectations of returning after 3 Idiots, with his Talaash meeting mixed reactions from critics & public alike and failing to cross the benchmark of 100 crores in India. Though Reema Kagti directed film was a brave offbeat attempt from the star, it was not something which seemed an attempt which took the star 3years to come back after his last Universal blockbuster which happens to be still the most successful film ever. Shahrukh did manage to cross the magical figure, but with Jab Tak Hain Jaan (JTHJ); he could not crush competition from Ajay starrer “Son of Sardar” with both films just faring to be Hits eating business of each other as Diwali releases. Though Yash Chopra’s last film as director got hyped due to unfortunate demise of the filmmaker before the release & the public spat between YRF with Ajay Devgun for the number of screens for their respective ventures, it failed to live up to expectations on Box office. This year has further increased the gap between him and his friend turned colleague Salman on the popularity charts with latter ruling as the undisputed “King” amongst audiences, while former being in news more for his undesired public spats rather than the Box office speaking for him.

Ajay Devgan had another good year with his Bol Bachhan & Son of Sardar working for him with Tezz being only losing venture. Ranbir tasted more success with Barfi winning over critics and public alike strengthening his credentials as an Actor & a Star! From the actress, it was Katrina who spoke with hits like ETT, JTHJ and some exciting projects up her sleeve, she is bound to have longer successful spell with the box office. Sonakshi had a great year with Rowdy, Son of Sardaar & Dabangg2 to her credit. Kareena just had a face saver in terms of Talaash & most successful “Fevicol” number to her otherwise poor year where EK Main aur Ek Tu & Heroine fared badly. Priyanka tasted success with Agneepath and author backed role in Barfi, which won her critical acclaim while Teri Meri Kahani was a total washout. Then new stars were seen on the horizon this year in form of Ayushman Khurana & Yami Gautam (Vicky Donor), Arjun Kapoor & Parineeti Chopra (Ishaqzaade) both being successful launchpads for the actors. Karan Johar launched in hit Student of the year Alia Bhatt, Sidharth & Varun Dhawan.

The year witnessed some unconventional & smaller films succeeding with the audiences balancing the big budget fares proving a market for every “Good” movie which entertains and clicks with the filmi junta. After Dirty picture, Vidya Balan gave another superhit in form of Offbeat “Kahaani”. If Paan Singh Tomar had Irfaan Khan gathering praise along with the maker, Gangs of Wasseypur was Anurag Kashyap’s vision which was lauded. Emraan Hashmi had success with the Bhatt’s in terms of Jannat2 and Raaz3, while Vicky Donor, Cocktail & English Vinglish were some other successes for the year.
With shelf life of Bollywood products being reduced to 1-3weeks at the Box office, it is becoming a game of right package, economics coupled with aggressive marketing & the right release dates to be on the winning side. Lets hope this year will see more success for the Bollywood as the last one and keep the audiences thronging the multiplexes and single screens for meeting their favorite stars & the pop corns :) :)