Learnings from El Che and The Mahatma

El Che (Ernesto 'Che' Guevara)
[Source: The Motorcycle Diaries, Harper Perennial ]

{Told by the old man in the last chapter}
"The future belongs to the people and gradually, or in one strike, they will take power, here and in every country.

The terrible thing is, the people need to be educated , and this they cannot do without taking power, only after. They can only learn at the cost of their own mistakes, which will be very serious and will cost many innocent lives. Or perhaps not, maybe those lives will not have been innocent because they will have committed the huge sin against nature: meaning a lack of ability to adapt. All of them, those unable to adapt - you and I for example - will die cursing the power they helped, through great sacrifice, to create.

Revolution is impersonal; it will take their lives, even utilizing their memory as an example or as an instrument for domesticating the youth who follow them. My sin is greater because, I, more astute and with greater experience, call it what you like, will die knowing that my sacrifice stems only from an inflexibility symbolizing our rotten civilization, which is crumbling. I also know - and this wont alter the course of history or your personal view of me - that you will die with a clenched fist and tense jaw, the epitome of hatred and struggle, because you are not a symbol (some inanimate example) but a genuine member of the society to be destroyed; the spirit of the beehive speaks through you and motivates your action. You are as useful as I am, but you are not aware of how useful your contribution is to the society that sacrifices you."

The Mahatma (Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi)
[Source: India of my Dreams, Navjivan Publishing House]
"Civilization, in the real sense of the term, consists not in the multiplication, but in the deliberate and voluntary restriction of wants, which promotes real happiness and contentment and increases the capacity for service."

[Source: Harijan, 3rd June 1939]
"Suppose I have come by a fair amount of wealth either by way of legacy, or by means of trade and industry, I must know that all that wealth does not belong to me, what belongs to me is the right to an honourable livelihood no better than enjoyed by millions of others. The rest of my wealth belongs to the community and must be used for the welfare of the community."

[Source: Harijan 1st February 1942]
"Man falls for the pursuit of the ideal of plain living and high thinking the moment he wants to multiply his daily wants. History gives ample proof of this.
Man's happiness really lies in contentment. He who is discontented, however much he possesses, becomes a slave of his desires. And there is no slavery equal to that of the desires."

Hence, in conclusion, both El Che and The Mahatma:

1. Believed that Capitalism just meant the rich getting richer, whereas true civilisation, means everyone getting their fair meal.
2. Believed in turning themselves, into contributions for the society at large.
   

Goafest: Thoughts!

The entire focus of Goafest, was that Advertising had changed, that's it's inherent nature, has been corrupted.

The advent of the internet, changed everything. Where traditional advertising created a stereotype, and propagated it, new advertising needs to understand the various fragments created, the various parts of the Long Tail.

The old advertiser, was an out and out creative guy, who over the years, has got so drawn into a rut, that his focus today, is just implementation. The world has changed so much, that the focus of the new media man, is to build the concept, and figure out which mediums are to be used as the message.

The truth is, traditional advertising has dropped by 20% every year. No country is isolated from the other. Things which happen around the world, happen in India. There is a local side to the everyday individual, and an increasingly common global side.

There is a merger happening, advertising as it stands, stands for Print and TV.

New Media, stand for New Disciplines, for the merger of software with creativity, for the merger of the truth with the message.

People don't trust advertising any more, advertising can no longer be about the message, it should be about the medium.

Advertising as it exists, can no longer exist on the Internet Medium, Phishing and other Popup Blockers killed them looong back.

Content can no longer be paid, it always had to be free. The best things in life SHOULD be free.

No longer can advertising focus on living off good content, it has to BE the good content.

Does that mean that Print and TV, don't mean nothing? They always have, and they always will. A true work of art, will always be on paper, and the most funny thing ever, where the user does nothing, will be the TV.

We need to be driven by the concept, not the product.

The true champion today, is not the artist, but the freak, a product of multiple disciplines. A cocktail of different talents, and a company willing to outsource to companies who can make miracles happen.

The Horny Green Goblin

Imagine having a dictat of becoming a villian... and actually overfulfilling this dictat.

That is exactly what happened on Thursday, the 24th of January.

Now .. tell me... what did I know... I was just told there was a party on Thursday night ... where the theme was Villians and Vamps.

So, I looked for my prospective villian.

Predictably, I looked at Satan :P .... so I came up wiht this idea of horns ... and turning myself red. Now the only other villians who came close, were the Green Goblin and the Wish Master.

So I started gearing up to get red, from the Holi colour vendors.

Now that didn't happen, because the Gujurati Guy who I asked for Holi colour, said that he got Green. 

I said "That should do!, But does it wash off?" 

He said "Arrey Bhai, ye Pakka Colour hai, Kachha nahi, yeh toh aram se nikalta pani se(Yo Mate, this is the permanent kind of colour, not the temporary kind of colour, it will wash off in a thrice!)"

I took the colour, went home, changed and got my cousin to paint the horns for me.

When painting, the horns took on this glorious emerald green hue.

That's when my cousin warned me that the colour didn't seem to come off his fingers.

I thought that was wierd, since the guy who sold the colour said"Arrey Bhai, ye Pakka Colour hai, Kachha nahi, yeh toh aram se nikalta pani se"

Anyway, I went to the party, and coloured my hands and eyes!

By the end of the party, everyone, including my boss :( was covered in Green !!!!! Yes .. they were all green, and raving for my red blood :P

By the time I got home, the damn colour seemed to have got onto my feet.

By the time I got up, the whole house was green, and wasn't washing off. I felt like I had propagated a deadly Greeen virus :((

Short story shorter, 3 weeks later, there were still a few spots here and there... and no... I didn't play Holi :P

Wifi on the P990i

I finally got the wifi working at home for my phone. Looks like this is a recurring problem on the P990i, according to the forums. I was first a lil miffed when a friend could easily log on with his N 81. Also, I could easily access other hotspots, but not the one at home :( . You wanna know the problem? My cousin had set it to WPA - PSK(which is more popular now), while my phone was set to WEP(which is what most hotspots use). Also, the N 81 could detect the kind of network, which is really kewl!

Inhaler with a Honker

Was watching a friend use his inhaler, and wondered "Why is it that the inhaler is so damn silent? ... What if you could make it real loud" ... then this whole thought of putting the same honker which they use on auto-rickshaws, or those squeaky noise makers which small kids have in their shoes....

Wernering... :p

Show me....

Show me people who drink too much, who have to try out fancy drinks, and I will show you people who are miserable and sorry for themselves, always causing trouble and always complaining. Their eyes are bloodshot, and they have bruises that could have been avoided.

Don't let wine tempt you, even though it is rich red, and it sparkles in the cup, and it goes down smoothly.
The next morning you will feel as if you had been bitten by a poisonous snake.
Weird sights will appear before your eyes, and you will not be able to think or speak clearly.
You will feel as if you were out on the ocean, seasick, swinging high up in the rigging of a tossing ship.
"I must have been hit," you will say; "I must have been beaten up, but I don't remember it. Why can't I wake up? I need another drink."
I love this dialogue... Hard to imagine it's from the Bible.... so poetic!

Maldives: Beautifully Expensive

Was in the Maldives last weekend, for ... of all things... a biz visit!
Was lovely ... makes me realise that the more of the world u see... the more you realise how its all the same.
I realise that we Goans share a true kinship with the Maldivians... it was real eerie.
Didn't take much pics... just this much :p
Was passing through Srilanka on the way there, we went by Srilankan Airlines.
Bought a book by a Srilankan author, No longer my child, by Arthur De Zoyza.
It was supposed to be the first fiction book by this author, but it turned out to be more fact.
Looks like the SriLankans don't know the meaning of fiction :P
I saw this even when I read the newspaper, that the second page contained more advertisements by Funeral arrangemnet companies than any other company.
I mean, if you read an indian newspaper the first thing that you will notice is that the front page has to have some frivolous like which cricketeer has been spotted with a new hair cut lately :P

Anyway, when we reached the Maldives the interesting thing was that everything was an island.
The airport was one Island, the capital city was one Island ... and every resort was a separate island. I guess when I was told that the Maldives consist of 1200 islands, out of which only 200 were inhabitated, I should have guessed it... DOH!!

The most unique thing about the Maldives , in my experience ... was the Surfing.
I was watching this guy who made the design on this surf-board... really Rad!... and found out that they love Heavy Metal... just as much as they love Bollywood music!

Unbelievable? ... Believe it :P