Paulo Coelho is an Alchemist

Paulo Coelho is indeed an Alchemist- he can turn your heart of ordinary metal into indeed gold. If you are clear that you do not want to pursue any dreams in life and want to carry on life without any change, then I sincerely advise you not to read his "The Alchemist". The book is bound to drive you mad to chase your dreams and not be a dumb bimbo / bimbette working for someone else.

Yeah when i finish this, I am going to read Robin Sharma's much touted " The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari". Wait for the review as much I am waiting to finish these two much touted books.

Going Back to the Dark Ages

Open Letter to Manmohan Singh

Dear Mr PM
We seem to be reverting to the dark ages - the times of "License Raj" propounded by your Congress predecessors in the name of socialism. Especially by the mother-in-law of India's first bahu who has got the credit (or discredit should i say) of bringing in India's one and only emergency.

And in one single stroke, your Congress government in Karnataka has dealt a blow to free market economics and Keynesian theories by the ban on release of non-Kannada films (for those not abreast with the latest, Karnataka Film Producers Association and the federal govt have banned any non-Kannada film from releasing in Karanataka for the first 49 days after a national release).

This goes against the spirit of market dynamics by trying to unhealthily promote Kannada films and thereby increase walk-ins to the Kannada films (by ensuring that there is no other film worth watching than a mundane Kannada film). But this is only bound to lead to increased video piracy and will definitely not translate to increase in Kannada film viewership as the quality of Kannada films are still abysmal.

What is even more suprising is the so-called "cosmo culture" of Bangalore has been belittled by this single master stroke. What will the Infoscions and Wiproites from other parts of the country do if they cant go to English , Hindi or Tamil films? Well Vijay "Rakht the producer" Mallya may have more booming business with increased pubbing activity as a result.

What will also happen are the following :
1. the already poor quality of theatres in Bangalore is bound to degenerate further
2. the process of Azim Premji's move to shift out of Bangalore is bound to gain further acceleration
Kannada Films - RIP

English Theatre in Chennai Comes of Age

"Alternate" entertainment comes to Chennai , thankfully at a point when movies & pubbing seemed to be the only sources of entertainment in the city. English theatre finally comes of age in Chennai and credits for the same duly goes to the new breed of theatre buffs who have taken the city by storm. What's suprising is that English theatre is being lapped up by Chennaivasis with intense fervour and gusto. Not that there is a mass following but every show is running to packed houses. Which in itself is an encouraging sign.

The latest play which has sparked this blog is the Spoof-it double whammy plays from LTS (Loyola Theatre Society that is) oldtimer Michael Muthu. It was a spoofy dramatisation of two famous classics - RL Stevenson's Treasure Island and Bard of Avon's Hamlet.

Hilarious is an understatement. More than Treasure Island, it was the three member enactment of Hamlet that was the clincher. Rip roaring .

The new trend that has emerged is the interactive style involving the audience which according to me started with Evam's adaptation of Woody Allen's Death. Actors emerging from the audience to add the necessary effect. In a step further, Mike Muthu had couple of members of the audience pulled onto the stage to act which aded to the humour. Not to forget, dividing the whole Sivagami Pethachi Auditorium crowd into three sections and making them render three different Shakespeareanesque dialogues, the best being 'Cut the crap Hamlet. My biological clock is ticking and I want babies now" by Ophelia. Good show Mike and his team of Boardwalkers who actually are people from different walks of life and not he boring pros.

Next week, its Class of '84 by Gerson da Cunha at Music Academy and followed by Evam's next play in Sep. Yeah the whole group of Evam was sitting in a row just behind me. Good to know that profesional rivalry has not prevented them from promoting theatre in the city.

Madras Day

Back from Mumbai after three gruelling nights in a city which actually never sleeps. Guess how people get accustomed to the monotony of traveling long distances for daily sustenance and really wonder why people want to give up living like a king in Chennai or Bangalore to be an unknown face in the sweaty locals of Mumbai. Its the money, honey!! Money lures people to the city.

But anyways , great to be back in my Chennai. Incidentally , the Madras Day celebrations by city historian Muthiah and Mylapore Times editor Vincent Dsouza seems to have had a relative success. The sunday evening lecture at Amethyst was graced by Salman Rushdie and his daughter-like wife Padma Lakshmi. And obviously the media was hounding them.

Amethyst is actualy a great place to unwind. But whether it comforts your wallet is a question in doubt. Better to settle for a cup of coffee and check out the "just for window shopping" exhibitions / displays that usually takes place.

Its close to midnight. And the lack of sleep last two days is seriously having a major impact with my eyes drooping without my command. Will catch later...

The Forbidden City

You could term it as the god forsaken city ...otherwise u could call it as Mumbai. Well i am off to mumbai for the next two days on official work and back only on friday. Glancing through the Times of India, I chanced upon this article which tells us long tales about the city.

In a survey done on pre marital sex, "36 per cent of the Mumbai's sample assert that there's no harm in pre-marital sex as compared to just 21 per cent in New Delhi and Bangalor"...

Guess as long as this unhealthy trend does not percolate to Chennai, I am happy....Bye Chennai

Fixing the Drink - Right Concoction

I am a failure. Guess thats a bad way to start something new, leave alone a blog. But http://theiyer.rediffblogs.com (Iyer's Red Book) has failed to drive the traffic and get the eyeballs as I would have wanted. Well its not a billion-dollar stem cells research to find the reason for failure - content was the reason (well if you havent flipped through the blog, its all about my fetish for Karma Theory, some profound and abstruse concepts of philosophy and things in life along those similar lines.

Along with that, goes down my dreams of becoming another Googlepreneur Larry Page (i had initially planned to increase eyeball traffic, then permit online advertisers to promote in the blog and then sell it off to a big e-player for millions of greenbacks..guess that has to wait for awhile now)

Just hope that this time around, I am able to see some blogging success and dish out what a reader wants...and not heavy stuff that blows down people ....so let me just hope that what Karma Theory could not do, hope "Karma Cola" can do that (thousand apologies to Gita Mehta for borrowing the title of her book)...