A Salute to the Musical Maestro…

By winning the Academy Awards for best original score and song from the film Slumdog Millionaire, Rahman proved that music and films can bring people together despite boundaries of race, nationality and religion. This man is a genuine genius. He is the "Mozart of Madras" and also "Isai Puyal". His music is like a sweet oasis found in a hot sun-scorched desert.

What can be said about such Indian musical gems – Vande Mataram(Album), Roja, Bombay, Rangeela, Dil Se, Taal, Gentleman, Indian, Jeans, Lagaan, Boys, Yuva, Swades, Rang De Basanti, Guru, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, Jodhaa Akbar, Ghajini, now Delhi-6, Slumdog Millionaire and the best is yet to come.

I'm a fan of both Rahman and Ilaiyaraaja. I feel that we are lucky to have such maestros in our generation and able to hear their melodious tunes.

“ Jai Ho Rahman! ”

The Coughing Radio…

One of my friends has a two year old nephew who is very naughty. Last week I visited his place and there I was told about this funny incident.

A live phone-in interactive programme was being aired on a popular radio channel. One caller, who was interacting with the radio jockey, started coughing.

On hearing the cough sound, the kid ran into the bedroom, brought a cough syrup bottle along with a spoon, took the syrup into the spoon and by the time anyone could stop him, he poured it into the radio speaker.

As the call ended soon, there was no more coughing, so the kid was happy that his cough syrup formula has worked successfully. Exactly a day before this incident took place, it seems the boy had cough and his mother gave him a teaspoon of the same syrup.

Really, children are born imitators.

Television, a threat to our privacy…

Television viewing constitutes a significant chunk of a person’s leisure time activities. With many channels flocking, there is so much of awareness today and a whole world of information is ready to unravel at the mere click of a remote button.

Dance shows, reality shows, serials, films, news, sports, music videos, quiz shows and innovative advertisements, constitute the most popularly viewed programmes on the television.

Television, which has long ago invaded our drawing rooms and bedrooms, constitutes for some disturbance to our privacy. In the nuclear families of today, parents are unable to spend quality time with their children as television has become their major source of entertainment.

The television ads seem to impact young minds by introducing variety of changes into their lifestyles. Unlike working women, house wives usually get glued to the popular afternoon soaps that dwell on inter-family disputes and emotional warfare.

Children, who are often found glued to TV sets, gradually become addicted to watching cartoons. They even get exposed to other television channels that very often gloat on sex, violence, horror shows, crime, murder and mafia serials, alcoholism, extra-marital relations etc.

In a society dominated by televisions, mobile phones, laptops, new-age toys and other hi-tech gadgets, is there sufficient time to enjoy reading a nice book?

As the umpteen television channels lay siege to the privacy of our drawing rooms, can we hope to get back that privacy which our ancestors enjoyed before the influence of the television era?

The Bumper 'Crazy' Offer...

Two months ago, I went for shopping with my cousin to buy a couple of round neck t-shits at a nearby mall. As we entered, we spotted some offer at one corner with large crowd around it. I always knew that this man would fall for discounts and this time again; he was carried away by a surprising offer on a big hoarding, "Buy 1 get 3 free".

It was an after-Christmas and 2008 year-end stock clearance sale. The t-shirts covered under the offer were of unheard brands; priced very high they seemed like its double their routine price and were looking old, washed, dull and dusty. But my cousin got carried away looking at the huge offer.

He planned to take three of them and asked me to buy two for myself so that together we can get fifteen more of them for free. I said "Man, are you crazy? I agree that we can purchase five of them, but what are we going to do with the free fifteen?” He instantaneously replied "But we can wear them casually at home, while running or jogging, while playing sports, etc".

Considering the doubled price tag of each one, in fact the offer was like buy two and getting three free. But my cousin looked quite enthusiastic as he tried to support his statement "Such a bumper offer is a rare opportunity and I will never let it go, its better if we buy some more".

I looked straight into his eyes and said "Some more?? What does that mean? There are more than five hundred of them here, are you going to buy one fourth of them and take home the left over stock?"

He was numbed by my dialogue, but his crazy expressions were still intact. In fact, if he was allowed to do anything he wished, maybe he would apply for a huge loan, buy the whole mall and then demand its owner to give similar malls for free.

At last I was happy that I could manage to convince him and we both collectively purchased only two of them but got six more for free. Trust me, we could select the two we purchased within seconds, but we struggled to select from the dull colors, the other six which were given free.

Sounds a bit funny, isn’t it? As shoppers became more cautious due to the continuing credit crunch, every outlet these days is vying for the customer’s attention with exciting offers and discounts.

I always doubt on big discounts and offers. Often prices are hiked before the sale; customers think that they are getting a discount, but they end up paying the original price. Sometimes even defective and duplicate products can be found in big sale events.

Well, do share your crazy shopping experiences in the comments column.