Types of people who come to watch plays at Rangashankara

Politics 2.0..campaigning Desi Ishtyle in Silicon City

(Click to view larger image)

Looking at the elections from almost 5,000 kilometers away, I was quite surprised to get an email from someone called "Media Office". Upon opening it, it turns out to be a campaigning flyer for the upcoming elections.

What is different about this email campaign? RS MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar is endorsing Ananthkumar for the LS seat from Bangalore South. Note that this is an endorsement of the man and what he stands for, rather than the party. The focus is on what this person stands for in terms of where he can take Bangalore forward. The focus is on bring out change in the city as opposed to canvassing for the party to win 276 seats in far away Delhi.

This is strikingly different from the fliers of previous elections, where they'd slip a bunch of awful looking green, pink or yellow sheets printed on the lowest quality paper. The sheet would be filled with mug shots of guys who seemed as if they had just escaped from Tihar ( probably did!). The parties symbol would be garishly obvious as they try to goad you to put your mark for the lantern/leg/bicycle/cart/wheel.

This BJP reach out is interesting. I do not know if they are following this all over or if Ananth Kumar is doing this because he fighting for a Bangalore seat focused on the IT crowd. In one stroke, he has gathered the attention of folks in his constituency far far away, such as yours truly.

I may or may not vote for this man. But I now know what he stands for. I know where his priorities lie with respect to my city. I know all of this not by attending a rally in the hot summer sun among teeming thousands, but at the comfort of my home. Who has the time to read a detailed manifesto ? Who has the energy to understand what politicians are doing ? Who really cares about who is at the helm in Delhi, while the problems are local : here and now. This email flier is well targeted at the educated classes of Bangalore, precisely the kind of people who can make informed choices at the polling booth. Initially, I wondered how they got my email adress, since I have never registered with any political organisation. But then I realized that I am on RangaShankara and RadioIndigo's mailing list and they must have sold the list. Ranga Shankara is more interesting since they are located in Bangalore South constituency.



I would love to see the Congress representative for Bangalore South reach out to me and tell me what he/she stands for, just so that I know who I'm putting in the parliament. In a web 2.0 world, I would like to see parties being more forward and unafraid of technology. The BJP has shown that it has been quite savvy in reaching out using the internet via blogs ( LK Advani's blog) and ambush search engine marketing with paid search results where BJP adwords upstages Congress related search terms ( On google.co.in, search for Rahul Gandhi and look at the ad words on the right)

CEOs blog for a reason : reach out to customers and give a human face. I believe that our political leaders should do the same : reach out to the masses, not for the votes, but to let them know where they stand and more importantly as tracking/governance mechanism once they are elected to demonstrate how far they've progressed on the promises that they have an obligation to deliver on.

Maybe this is the start...



This post is not meant to be an endorsement of the BJP, but is my opinion on how the party is marketing itself. Let me know if you have come across other political e-marketing campaigns

It gets crazier everyday...

10.00 am.
It seemed like any other normal, crappy day. Here I was, drumming my fingers on the steering wheel, listening to John Fogerty and Co, and waiting for the traffic to move so that I could get to where ever I wanted to go.

My famous zen-like patience was nearing its breaking point as row after row of cars and damned autos went past me, refusing to give me my God given right of way. And to add insult to grevious injury, the parade continues with a bullock cart slowly ambling its way across, its bells jingling away to glory.

Now, given the right environment, the soothing sound of a cart making its way down the wet roads of a provincial Kerala town, just after an afternoon shower is blissful indeed. But this is a city !! The bullock cart, was closely followed by a Merc (C-class), tailed by an auto and goaded on by a milk man on a cycle, complete with aluminium cans clanging.

As I absorbed the unfolding chaos, I was becoming acutely aware of the growing line of impatience behind me as cars started lining up, horns started honking and tempers started flaring. The time by now was 10.11 am. A full 11 minutes had passed since I got into this seemingly inextricable situation.

I say 'seemingly' because this is something I endure everyday in one form or an other, at one major junction or another, and by now like other Bangaloreans, am used to it. After all, the traffic in Bangalore, like the weather in England , is great fodder for a conversation starter in really awkward social circumstances.

But what I simple cannot, and refuse to make peace with is the fact that all of the above... all the cars, buses, tricycles ( yes even that) had to take place right in front of my building and I was stuck, trying get out of the driveway for a full 15 minutes.

I should have walked... the damn store was half a km away.

Why Can't We Be Friends?

When the music group "War" wrote this song in the 70's, I'm sure they had quite a few things on their mind... communists, racial tensions, rich poor divide and much more. That message still has not changed.

As we go around leading our lives, just trying to get by each day, we face frayed tempers, irritation at every remark directed against us. At this point we get into a vicious tit for tat cycle, trying out do the others and take revenge. This is magnified at the national and the international level with disputes over rivers, a few yards of land and ofcourse, oil.

I came across this clip from an Iranian film from the 70s "Do Rahehal Barayeh Yek Mass" which portrays an everyday situation involving two children with two scenarios with very different out comes.

The clip is very well made and the simple narrative style and the drama captured can happen in any classroom anywhere in the world ( yes..its HAS happened to me!). The end really gets you thinking and puts a smile on your face as you realise that there are two solutions to every problem.. and ALWAYS an easy way out !

Take out 4:11 minutes of your time to watch this gem....
(Link courtesy : The Voice of A)

I miss.....

The gentle Bangalore May sunshine...
The ominous grey clouds and summer rain...
The cool greenness of Nanda road...
The solitude of Jayanagar streets...
The squeaking squirrels at my window sill..
The four rupee tea stall beside the lake...
The chaotic calmness of inner ring road


Yay ! I get back tomorrow!

Ondu Hosa Experience

While searching for good deals for a memory card for my camera, I went to Ezone and came across this absolutely ridiculous poster. In kannada, it reads " Ondu hosa experience". Translated, it means " A new experience"...

WTF ??????? A new experience? Is this a new machine to bathe your kid ? Or is the washing machine so safe that you can put your kid in it and take her for a 'spin' ? or maybe its a new joy ride at an amusement park, " GET WET, GET WILD, GET TUMBLE DRIED!!!"

Bleh ! I wonder who wrote the copy for this ad...

the ironman challenge

This one is courtesy Sharath Bhat at Metroblogging Bangalore . Read the original blog here

Knowing how crowded Bangalore buses are, all you have to do after you get off is peel your wrinkled shirt off, hand over to dhobi, receive ironed shirt and walk into office with crisp sleeves and a warm feeling around your collar

We are truly, like this only