Lata sings for Shanker Jaikishen

As I am sitting in Buenos Aires airport reading about Lata Mangeshkar’s hospitalization, my thoughts went to her initial forays in Hindi music industry and her steady and sure rise as the finest female singer in the Hindi film world.

She and her sister - the equally great Asha - remain our tenuous links to the golden age of Hindi film music - the fifties and the early sixties.

My thoughts then, as befitting an SJ fanatic, then turned to her incredible association with the peerless Shanker Jaikishen - the finest set of music directors to have graced the Indian film world.  My wandering mind then began considering what would be the finest songs our finest musicians lavished on the finest female voice? Especially as one considers that it took them no time at all to set Lata as their numero-uno female voice while it took them the better part of a decade to decide on Rafi - as our finest male singer of all times - as their primary male voice.

I had written earlier that while SJ experimented with a number of male voices - giving range to some of the finest songs sung by singers like Talal Mahmood (Daag, Shikast) to Manna Dey (Chori Chori, Baaghi Sipahi), from Subir Sen (Seema, Aas ka Panchi) to Mukesh (Awara, Shree 420); before confirming Rafi a good decade after they made their storied debut with Barsaat (1949); it was Lata all the way for them; from Barsaat to the late sixties where they seem to lose a bit of their mojo, just a little bit. In Aurat (1953), Lata sang all the songs, in Aah (1953) and Barsaat (1949), she sang for both of the female leads and she sang for every SJ movie in the first five years except for Boot Polish where the younger sister and Madhubala Zaveri sang for Baby Naaz and others.

So, what would the best 10 songs be; the peerless Diva singing for the peerless SJ? I think this was an extremely difficult pick. These are my choices and last heard, India remains a very vibrant democracy!

One caveat - when we have Lata in the recording room, we only want her, so no duets, no tandems no chorus.

1.     Ye Shaam ki tanhaiyan (Aah, 1953): Silken Soft Lata, the tune is complex; something the irascible Sajjad Hussain would have be proud of composing and telling Lata to ensure she practices before coming for his recording - not just a mere Naushad tune! Nargis looks ethereal in the movie as she waits for Raj Kapoor to come back to her life. There were other contenders for the best Lata number in the movie not least Sunte the naan hum jinka bahaar se pictiurised on the other sister where for a change Lata infuses the lilt that Geeta Dutt had naturally in droves. But Shaam ki tanhaiyan was an incredible piece of music; the tune and the singing perfectly in tune to invoke the wistfulness the scene demands. It was a travesty of justice that Aah happened to be the first commercial failure of an RK movie but that made the music of Boot Polish possible. But then that is another story. You can hear it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2jsjAiXbZ8

2.     Chandrama madhbhara Kyun jhoome  (Patrani, 1956). Patrani was a musical treasure trove, an album whose songs can easily make up this list on their own. I pick this one over the others - all of which had Lata singing; 7 solos and 3 with chorus or her sisters, 9 written by Shailendra and 1 by Hasrat Jaipuri! A neat 10 songs with everything a music lover will wish for - the happy and the sad, the dance and the wedding; all sung by the Diva set to music by the dynamic duo! This one set to tune in Shivaranjani with SJ using Sarod as the key musical instrument for the interlude music. Just hear the notes Lata reaches effortlessly in lag gaya rog jigar mein
chandrma before coming back to normal notes with the second chandrama. Quite magical isn’t it? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L3vQ7Ta3f4&list=RD0L3vQ7Ta3f4&index=1

3.     Mohabbat ki dastaan baj suno, (Mayurpankh, 1953). For me this is the quintessential SJ - Bhairavi tune. Bhairavi features in the SJ repertoire significantly more than any other raag but this one encapsulates eveything great about the SJ's use of Bhairavi. Helen, then all of 15 years old; looks cute as a button in this number singing an ode on love with Kishore Sahu and Odette Ferguson. Simple tune as benefits the sada-suhagan rag, minimal orchestration - this was still 1954 before SJ began using their 100 piece orchestra - and letting Lata’s voice wash over us like gentle rain on a hot summer day.  Hear how effortlessly Lata reaches the pitch of ‘gayi baadshahi ke din..’ Pure magic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktxwQc672to

4.     Ille belle aa re, (Kali Ghata 1951). The song sounds like the gentle patter of rain on a parched surface.  Soft   Melodious.  Silken. Beautiful.  It’s almost as if one meets the chosen other for the first time. The heart fills with laughter with joy with a feeling of lightness. The accordion during the interlude never intrudes – merely brings a restrained rhythm to the melody. That’s precisely what the great SJ bring to this tune & melody and spreading sweetness & light – paraphrasing a certain Earl (pardon the non-PG Wodehouse fanatics).   And Lata does the rest with an effortless rendition. The beauteous Bina Rai in her debut looks ethereal. Gay. Happy. Joyous. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaS_XScG7I8

5.     Hai mera dil le gaya (Parbat, 1952).  And then the magical duo takes you to the depths of depression as Lata sings for a young Nutan. The video isn’t available but the music, the tune all gives poignant notice to Nutan presumably pining for a then handsome Prem Nath as one of our most bankable stars. But even in the melancholy there is evidence of an amazing tune, the counter melody using the ubiquitous violin - perhaps better used for Talat singing for Agha in Patita (Andhe jahan ke andhe raaste) and letting the Diva do what she does best. Song at an unbelievable pitch. Kabhi besuri hi nahi hoti. How apt. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UH_XZSzbZA

6.     Tune hai re mere zakhmi jigar – (Nagina, 1951). Nagina was SJ’s first movie signing outside the Raj Kapoor banner coming right after the international sensation that was Awaara. And it was Nutan’s second film after the home production of Hamari Beti. Hear this and and tell me if Lata ever reached the poignant notes of ‘toone….hai re mere zakhme jigar ko choo liya ‘. SJ keeping pace with an innovative orchestra letting the Diva do what she does best - sing with no blemish! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gic7iVKDnP8

7.     Raisik balma,hai re dil kyun lagaya maine (Chori Chori, 1956) - SJ’s first Filmfare award came for Chori Chori - a remake of It Happened one night in 1956. The album was uniformly exceptional, with Manna Dey crooning for an effervescent Raj and Lata for Nargis. But the pick of the album - a tough choice though - for me was the exceptional Rasik Balma - just hear how Lata manages to transcend the incredible heights when singing Balmaaa..incredible voice. beautiful lyrics by Hasrat Jaipuri. exceptional tune and music with sitar forming the leitmotif of the interlude music. How can one get so creative? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF1lNr-LniI

8.     Jao re jogi tum jao re, (Amrapali, 1966). My pick from the music marvel that was Amrapali. I could have picked any of the other - Tadap Ye din raat ki is about as soft and silky as chandrama madbhara, Vyjayabthi looks ethereal as she sings to Sunil Dutt. Neel gagan ki chaon mein reminds you of the Hemant crooner in Badshah, Tumhe yaad karte karte is about as good as ye shaam ki tanhaiyan. Legend has it that Shailendra wrote this song extempore in front of Shanker with no written lyrics; at a time when he was under enormous pressure due to the abject failure of Teesri Kasam; a movie he produced. And this song probably features Shanker’s last individual sitar recital – before his diabetes put a stop to his playing stringed instruments. Amrapali proved that (if it needed any proving) that the SJ of the mid-late sixties could give the quality of melody they regularly gave in the early fifties; the increased focus on rhythm and orchestra notwithstanding. And trust Lata to give the necessary mischief in her voice as she sings - Ye hai premion ki nagri...  brilliant. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFRmLkTCTpc

9.     Ruk ja raat thehar ja re chanda, (Dil ek mandir, 1963). I always wonder how Dil Ek Mandir - a remake of a Tamil movie by Sridhar (Nenjil oru Aalayam) didn’t get more musical accolades that it did. Rafi was at his playful self in ‘tum sabko chhodkar aa jaao’; Lata kept pace with ‘hum tere pyaar mein saara aalam’; Suman kalyanpur was evocative in ‘O meri laadli’ while keeping pace with Rafi in the title song and while Rafi reached the depths of pathos in ‘Yaad na jaaye beete dino ki’ and the diva kept pace with ‘Ruk ja raat thehar ja re chanda’. The music is subdued for most part with the occasion sitar providing touching interlude music. Brilliant stuff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA42s4Q0ikk

10.  Bol ri katputli dori kaun sang, (Kathputli, 1957) - Probably my most difficult choice of the list. Anyone with even a cursory interest in Bollywood of the fifties and sixties would be aware of the quantum of work SJ have done in the dance numbers, even Jao re jogi is a dance number. I could have picked any of the scores of magnificent dance numbers - from Chori Chori to Amrapali, from Dil Apna Preet Parayi to Rajkumar; the SJ firmament is awash with dance numbers. The fact that Shanker was a dancer himself and even showed a consummate trained dancer like Vyjayanthimala a special Todi sequence in Amrapali is the stuff legends are made of. In the end I picked this sweet opening number from Katputli where a young and effervescent Vyjayanthimala dances with gay abandon to Lata’s rendering of a Shailendra tandem. And the sad version provides the icing on the cake, note how the same tune and metre sounds so different in the happy and sad versions, the genius of Shanker Jaikishen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZzTQtyWjhI (happy version), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTlBnGm7vuY (sad version)

Knowledge driven market

A couple of weeks back I was in Chicago attending a senior management course at Booth School of Business and amongst the several areas of thought leadership I was privileged to be part of, quite a few stood out and one in particular seems to have resonance for this magazine.

Even since technology became a key aspect of businesses, technology was considered an enabling function - used for ensuring core business could utilize available technologies to streamline operations, remove efficiency barriers, create decision support systems for easier analysis etc - however things have changed now. Technology is no longer just an enabling function enabling core businesses like banks and telcos to streamline and run operations but actually is now increasingly defining strategic value more than ever. Let me explain.

Most of my working life I have been confronted with a statement from the CXO community - 'we have a business problem (& it could be efficiency, productivity, revenue or something else but mostly tangible), find me the best way to solve it - typically using a mix of consulting, business process engineering and technology provisioning.' What I am hearing now is an increasing number of CXOs speaking about disruption - brought about principally by technology. I am hearing more CXOs (and not just the CIOs, in fact the CIOs seem very quiet in this one!) who are asking me - well, we understand there is this new great technology or application (some CFOs, COOs and CEOs are even using acronymns like apps!) and we want to be able to leverage it, we are struggling with how we can use say facebook to provide better service for our customers or increase our branding. Incredible but for the first time in almost two decades, I am witnessing technology driving business innovation, desire and dynamics and business leaders are struggling to keep up with it.

So what is causing this transformation? So what is causing the COO or the CFO or the CEO to struggle to appreciate and utilize these trends? These are some of the smartest people I am privileged to work with and they should know how to leverage Facebook for their banks or telcos right? Well, I am not sure - not because the CXO communities are not smart - they are exceptionally so - but the fact remains that the rapid change is something no one has prepared anyone for. It is not something that can be taugth in a business school and no one really knows how to leverage knowledge economics at the speed of light. It just hasnt happened before and most standard management books are unable to provide a template or a framework for leveraging this phenomenon. Interesting isnt it? To put this into context - for today's consumer (& not just the Gen Y or Z), the last tweet is often is more important determinant than the career resume'! So by the time someone dreams up a strategy or framework to analyse and leverage the existing knowledge content, the time for it has already passed!!

The short answer on leveraging knowledge is - build agility as part of the business dynamics. Agility and adaptability have always been part of a CXO's agenda but they are probably more essential than ever before and the virtuous cycle of agility perhaps has to be exponentially rapid. Perhaps it is time to revisit the 1-5 year business plans, perhaps it is time to jettison large and complex programs that promise much in 18 months time (or more), perhaps it is time to re-think on what actually constitutes strategy - perhaps it is actually time for us to evaluate our knowledge content, its relevance and frameworks, perhaps it is time for us to revisit long held notions of importance given to revenue sustainability, marketing dynamics and I think most certainly it is time to rethink what actually constitutes our target markets (& marketing strategies thereof) and our competition.

Which is all good reasons why I thought a break to study at two world class institutions was a good idea! We shall go back to discussing outsourcing operations in my next article.

Captives & their issues

Thanks for the comments on the last article, that provided me with significant food for thought and I felt that I should address some of the points raised before delving into the key dynamics for outsourcing.

The first point was on the issue of captives and my learned friend felt that a captive is perhaps best placed to leverage the efficiencies of scale and the dynamics for change and drive superior behaviour patterns and increased profitability. I personally think there has not been enough empirical data to support this view - we do have exceptions but in most of the cases where I have had to deal with captives, the experience has been less than great. There are some simple reasons why a captive - unless of significant scale and clarity of structure - will find it difficult to work efficiently. Also at the outset, it must be noted that outsourcing to a captive is a much older and thus more evolved business model than outsourcing to a third party - the British East India Company outsourced jute articles production to their own factories in Calcutta in the eighteenth century! I believe there are essentially four issues with captives and most organizations who have utilized their captives well have managed to appreciate and resolve at least two out of the four issues well -
1. Governance model - the key issue I have often seen is the method of interaction between the two entities - often the captives are treated as another vendor which results in suboptimal results. At the other end of the spectrum there are cases where the business leaders directly control their niche portions of the operations leading to an inability to leverage common functions better. There is always the issue with the captive employees who are often looked at as 'less essential' by the front office business folks in the parent organization
2. Lack of scale - sheer size is critical - lack of economies of scale, lack of career progression opportunities, lack of opportunities to work in different systems, processes and platforms, lack of opportunities to travel / live in different cities/countries and consequent issues with point 2
3. Lack of cross skilling - one of the key differentiators with external services providers is the ability to find interesting opportunities to work in different domains, technologies, countries etc - this makes for constant learning opportunities and creates a broader appreciation of the enterprise. One would argue that working in the same domain and technology creates significant reusable knowledge and thus efficiency but often it works exactly the other way around - working in the same domain and technology creates isolated knowledge centers and dependence on key individuals increasing operational risk. Also, one needs to remember that operations should essentially be repeatable back office work and one needs to often 'dumb' the process, simply the process and need for specialist knowledge to increase efficiency - with obvious exceptions to this point.
4. Lack of cross industry learning - one of the keys to the success of the India based firms has been the ability to leverage cross industry expertise. Telcos for example are very good with managing customer churn while most banks are not. Several service providers have figured on how to leverage such cross industry knowledge to create and drive additional value. Additionally - thanks to a broad industry base - many service providers are able to drive significant efficiency by leveraging common functions and technologies across industries by essentially 'dumbing' the process and technology value chain. Simply, a DB2 administrator performs similar (though not same) tasks in a retail firm or in a logistics firm - no reason to develop an industry specific knowledge - again with exceptions
The second point made by another learned colleague was the fact that customers are constantly looking for value creation in their outsourced relations. Price, process and quality arbitrage is all standards expected from a service provider but what additional benefit are they able to create becomes a crucial differentiator in an outsourcing relationship - this probably neatly brings me back to the topic I left last month's discussion on and which I think needs to be continued in our next post!

Rafi sings for SJ in the fifties

I began this article on Christmas eve as I was uploading a Rafi classic tuned by the incomparable SJ as my humble offering to mark Rafi's birth anniversary when it stuck me - in the 3 decades we spent without the peerless singing voice, he has just become more entrenched in our collective memory - just witness the number of articles and blogs on Rafi floating around the net - incredible. On this occasion I was thinking about Rafi and the fantastic collaboration he enjoyed with Shanker Jaikishen and the obvious examples were those tuned on Shammi and Rajendra Kumar through the sixties. But what about those gems in the fifties when arguably SJ were at their very best? I know many would baulk at the very notion that SJ were at their best in the fifties and their class deteriorated - however slightly - in the sixties but well, it is MY choice! How about those Rafi numbers which are perhaps not as famous as the Yahoo ones on a 'Junglee' Shammi Kapoor or a Chalke Teri on an Arzoo Rajendra kumar? Would it be worth an exercise to pick some gems from the fifties? So here are a set of Rafi classics set to tune by the great SJ in movies released before 1960 - so most of the Shammi classics other than College Girl and Singapore get eased out of the reckoning.

Lets start with the first ever SJ-Rafi collaboration set to tune on a pensive, introspective Raj Kapoor - Main Zindagi Mein Hardam was as much SJ Bhairavi on Rafi as was Mohabbat Ki Dastaan on Lata in Mayurpankh. Simple, elegant and with the music lending depth to an evocative Rafi. It remains an enduring classic to this day. Trust SJ to consider using Rafi for this - all the other songs in the movie picturised on a male actor (both Premnath and Raj Kapoor) were sung by Mukesh. One can listen to the Barsaat ground breaking number here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgXoz51hxTg

After Barsaat, SJ used Rafi for one song in Awara which was picturised on Premnath in a guest appearance, it was rumoured that Raj Kapoor and Premnath had fallen out and RK asked Premnath to lip sync this fishermen melody just to dispel any such allegations. Interesting song, but is it really one of SJ's best? Awara had some of the finest songs composed in Hindi film history and this Rafi number gets lost in the midst of all the Mukesh, Lata and Shamshad melodies especially the title song which even the smallest kid in India knows. Thus I move on and find this gem from Kali Ghata picturised on Kishore Sahu and Bina Rai making her beauteous debut. The SJ imprimatur is evident in the orchestra, the ear for melody and the clever use of the romance in Rafi's voice - hear it here to decide for yourself here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A_UimLs6K0


I am cognizant I have missed Nagina with the two Rafi duets (one with Lata and a rare one with Shamshad) but they were both - for me - good but not great numbers and perhaps would be considered later.

The year 1952 finds me with Parbat, a veritable treasure house of Lata classics but in the midst of all the Lata melodies, one finds a rare Rafi duet with Geeta Dutt and Lata set to tune by SJ. Hear it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPq70X4gTRo and let me know if Geeta didnt keep lilting pace with the great Rafi - in fact I often felt that Geeta was the best foil for Rafi - even superior to Lata - for a certain genre of songs - essentially playful, full of verve and lilt. Her effortless rendition of this song makes one wonder why SJ never used her more. As one wonders why SJ didnt use Rafi more in the early fifties.

Rafi then had the one solo in Shikast (1953) - Nai Zindagi ke pyaar karke dekh - which was not picturised on the hero Dilip Kumar but a good song all the same. However Shikast for me was all about Talat and his soulful playback for a melancholic Dilip and thus I move on to try and unearth more Rafi gems in this part of the SJ time period. I unearth this classic from Pooja - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIaqAcFoOx8 - a song I had never heard till a few months back. Evidently this song is in a raag called Madhuvanti - a rag so rarely used that there has been only once more in Bollywood. Hear this song and let me know if it wasnt as good as - if not better than - any raag based song Naushad composed for the peerless Rafi

In my excitement on discovering Pooja and its 7 Rafi numbers (4 of them solos), I realise I have missed out another classic released just before Pooja - Boot Polish, a movie whose songs were composed in a month thanks to Aah's box office failure and Raj Kapoor's consequent desire to avoid experiments and a musical where the peerless Rafi had to keep pace with a virtuoso - Manna Dey and while we probably hear more of the classic Manna Lapak Jhapak more today, the two Rafi duets - Nanhe munhe bachche and Tumhare hain tumse daya maangte hai bring to forth two sides of the Rafi repertoire - the sad and wistful allied to the strong and sensitive. Hear them and let me know if Rafi and SJ weren’t made for each other - even in the early fifties! Funny I wasn’t able to find these two classics on You Tube!

Picking out the best Rafi numbers gets more tricky as we approach the mid fifties and it seems SJ had by then understood the verve and potential in Rafi to utilize him for the more unconventional songs - thus Rajhath with the superb Aaye Bahar Banke, Basant Bahar with the classical Rafi numbers, the two Seema heart stealers and even in Raj Kapoor's Shri 420 where Rafi played singer to Shailendra's on screen persona were a significant quantitative and qualitative improvement on the SJ-Rafi partnership from their first 3-4 years of their collaboration. In Chori Chori, SJ used him on Johnny Walker with telling effect - tell me if All Line clear is lesser than anything the prolific OP Nayyar and SD Burman composed to go on a tipsy Johnny Walker. You can hear it here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxaONMbmzA8.

In the same period there emerged a song sung with rare passion set to music with equally rare feeling of wistfulness - check out Halaku's Aaja ke intezaar mein and let me know if Rafi ever reached those poignant heights again! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2XU3i__Jgc

As we approach the end of the decade, Rafi again has to fight for vocal superiority with Mukesh (Anari, Yahudi), Manna Dey (Baagi Sipahi, Ujala), Kishore Kumar (New Delhi, Begunaah) and even Subir Sen (Kathputli, Chhoti Bahen) and in the midst of all the songs Manna, Mukesh and Subir sang for the movie heroes and Kishore for himself, Rafi's high pitched Ye Duniya Ye Duniya from Yahudi makes a telling impact.

SJ’s clever use of Rafi to lip sync for a rock and roll number from Ek Phool Char Kaante while using Iqbal Sinha flown in specially from Calcutta for the original piece was a masterpiece. Hear the Rafi-SJ ode to Rock and Roll here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8C-ty-guK0. Ek Phool Char kaante also had Johnny Walker lip syncing to the Rafi number Tirchi Nazar se yun na dekh: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAIFydaL98M

However it was only in 1960 – after Ujala that SJ began using Rafi as their primary male voice. It is thus quite incredible to note that it took SJ a full decade to decide on Rafi while it took them no time at all to commence using Lata as their primary female voice! Consider the number of songs an Asha or Geeta or Shamshad have sung for SJ in their first decade as India’s finest music directors and you will know what I mean. But once SJ got their bearings with Rafi right, they proceeded to give some of the finest songs Rafi ever sang in his career from the exuberant Yahoo to the romantic Ye mera prem patra padkar and proceeded to help create the on screen persona of two of the brightest and most successful stars in the sixties – Shammi Kapoor and Rajendra Kumar. I end this delve deep into memory lane with the classic Shararat number picturised on Kishore Kumar – well life had come a full circle! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhnVzlY_5rg

The Dream Cricket Team - Best XI

One of my passions has always been cricket. I was a decent enough player at school, good enough to play a couple of matches and as with many of my other passions, lost interest for a brief while at college before picking up the threads a few years later. Cricinfo remains one of my favorite sites for cricket news and while I assiduously devour the articles, what I really love is the access it provides to databases, information and now over the past 18 months their selection of best cricketers of all times to play for their respective countries.

I have followed the country selection with interest and overall, I thought it was a fabulous selection, such selections are always fraught with tension and debate but rarely have any choices been very surprising - a few selections could perhaps be debated (like Kumble preferred over Chandra or Warne over Grimmet) but these have been rare and far between.

So I thought let me relook at the 88 players selected by the august selection team and let me try and put together a team which would be in effect the finest cricket team assembled on any field. To start with, I thought the team needs to be balanced so I look at two quality openers - openers who have ONLY opened or have opened for most of their batting life. Then I look at 3 middle order batsmen, ideally I would like to have one left hander but not at the cost of leaving out a better batsman for the sake of variety. The one all rounder followed by four bowlers - one right arm quick, one left arm quick, one leg spinner and one off spinner - ensuring the team is ready for any battle it faces.

Openers - I have never seen Jack Hobbs bat but the original little master cannot be left out - arguably the finest opening bat of all times and he needs to make it for the sheer number of runs he scored and his collection of first class centuries (197) remains unsurpassed, eight decades after he hung up his cricketing shoes. His partner would be the diminutive Indian little master - Sunil Gavaskar, the man who taught Indian cricket to take pride in itself. For people who have been born and bred on Sehwag and wonder about classical openers who gave the first hour to the bowlers and then defended a little less to make runs, I just request them to watch a rerun of Gavaskar's 100 against Holding and Marshall in Delhi in 1983-84. Sheer counterattacking class.

The middle order - Don picks himself, the easiest selection on this list. His class and ability is followed by the purity and technique of Sachin Tendulkar and the cavalier and panache of Viv Richards. The middle order definitely packs a punch! For the left handed variety, I did consider Lara but Sachin & Viv possessed tighter techniques than the Trinidadian master and if there was a spot for a fourth man in the middle order, the choice would definitely been between Lara and Hammond.

All rounder - The all rounder slot goes to Sobers, perhaps the easiest choice for me after the Don. Besides his great batting, he would be a potential opening bowler and coming back with the older ball to bowl a selection of Chinamen and and sharp cutters. Awesome talent. Kallis may be a statistical match for Sobers but he is yet to have the presence Sobers had, Imran, Kapil, Botham and Hadlee all fall short of the Sobers mark and while Miller was the darling of a generation of Aussies, he loses out to the impact and consistency of Sobers.

Wicket keeper - This was another difficult choice, the debate was not just on the person but more on the KIND of person one needs for a team teeming with class. Does one need to be a good wicketkeeper AND a good batsman? Would the wicket keeper really be required to bat? After all, how often do you think bowlers would be able to get past Hobbs, Gavaskar, Don, Sachin & Viv? In the end, I thought I should chose a wicketkeeper who rarely dropped a catch, kept to the spin of Warne, the bounce of McGrath and the pace of Lee effectively & revolutionized the concept of a wicketkeeper-batsman - Adam Gilchrist. He may not perhaps be as good a wicketkeeper as Tallon whom the Don reckoned to be the best or a Knott who remains my favorite keeper (keeping to Underwood on a difficult wicket would probably qualify for the most difficult job in cricket) but he was effective and imagine a counterattacking innings from Viv and Adam together - a sight for the Gods.

Fast bowlers - The left arm seamer picks himself - Wasim Akram is quite simply the finest bowler I have had the privilege to watch - in real life or on TV. The graceful, short run to the wicket and the astonishing swift arm action packed everything one could ask for - away swing, in swing, in dipper, cutter, a brutal bouncer, toe crushing yorker & all delivered with barely a noticeable change in action. The right arm fast bowler was a very difficult choice indeed and I had a whole galaxy of greats whom I had watched to chose from - the West Indian greats Holding and Marshall, Aussies Lillie and McGrath, it was indeed a very difficult choice. In the end however, I have gone with someone whom I never watched - he plied his trade a century before I was born - Sydney Barnes. Well, I could not argue with 189 wickets in 27 tests at 16.43 - he is almost the Bradman of bowlers.

Spinners - for a balanced team, I considered selecting two very different spinners - one essentially a leg break, fastish spinner and another a off break, loopy one. Bill O Reilly makes the cut as the leg spinner of choice - well Shane Warne comes close but I could not argue with the Don, who reckoned Bill - Tiger to most - to be the finest spinner he has seen or played against. For the offspinner, I chose Prasanna, more of a chess player than a cricketer, a man with a great action, temperament and talent. Almost all the great players who played him at his peak in the late sixties reckoned he was the finest spinner they had faced and I don't intend to commence arguing with Sobers, Tony Greig and Ian Chappell.

Now thats my dream team & one of the little points which comes to my mind as I peruse this list is the quality of catching and fielding - imagine a slip consisting of Gavaskar at first, Sobers at second, the Don at third, Hobbs at fourth and Viv at gully - I am sure one ball will not pass through those hands!

Kishore Kumar in the early 50s

Last night, I was desultorily perusing some articles from my father’s collection of clippings from Filmfare and Illustrated weekly and it suddenly stuck me – we all know the Kishore Kumar who sang – and sang such that he displaced Rafi and remained numero uno for 17 years till his death – for Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan and a whole host of actors in the post 1969 Aradhana phase, but perhaps his gems in the early fifties aren’t as popular today, a today where every song seems as transient as a firefly in a summer evening.

That set a chain of thought and research and I thought it would perhaps be an interesting exercise to identify some of the gems from the period when Kishore wasn’t considered the singing equivalent of a Rafi or a Mukesh or even a Hemant (well, Salil was at the point of summoning Hemant to sing on Kishore for his Naukri). It would also be an interesting exercise to understand how and why the great music directors of that age, Naushad, Madan Mohan and the rest to ignore the fresh, fun, fabulous and fantastic Kishore so totally. Naushad for example never recorded a song with Kishore in the fifties when he was arguably at his peak, I don’t think he ever found himself in the same recording studio as Kishore (reader pl leave a comment!). OP and SJ for all the transformation they brought to the Hindi Film music scene utilized Kishore only for the movies where he was the actor and even in such cases, used Rafi to sing for an on screen Kishore for various reasons (SJ in Sharat, OP in Ragini). Perhaps only Dada Burman recognized the depth and vitality in Kishore’s voice and used him quite magnificently as the voice for Dev Anand through the fifties in a string of classics – Jeevan Ke safar mein rahi (Munimji), oonche sur mein gaye ja (house no 44), ae meri topi palat ke aa (Funtoosh) and even for non Dev Anand starrers like Bahar (Kasoor Aapka on Karan Dewan). While OP and SJ found Kishore eminently suited for singing for his own maverick style of acting, it required a personal request from Ashok Kumar for Salil to deign to give a musically untrained Kishore a hearing. So could I pick my favorites of Kishore (only solos pl) from the time when he was known more as the reigning comic star rather than the most loved singing voice in the country? For ease, I have considered movies released before 1957 and thus movies like Asha, Musafir Shararat, Awaz (with the Salil classic – Araram Tararam duniya ke kaise) and Chalti Ka Naam Gadi get eliminated

1. Marne ki duaen kya mangoon (Ziddi, Khemchand Prakash), his first and therefore needs to be on the list. The Saigal influence is obvious in this song and Khemchand Prakash needs to be congratulated on identifying this voice and the genius behind it. Thanks to youtube, we can even hear it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-KCGt1za0M


2. Arji Hamari Ye Marji Hamari (Naukri, Salil Choudhury), Naukri is one of the forgotten classics. Kishore was superb as the singing star giving a glimpse of what is in store – with the amazing voice & modulations and his onscreen persona opposite a cute looking Sheila Ramani. Hear it hear to understand why I rate it so highly http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNoa_hPG7ig&feature=related


3. Ek Chhoti se naukri ka (Naukri, Salil Choudhury), minimalistic music, maximum results. Hearing this one wonders why Salilda was once accused by Pandit Ravi Shanker to make the tune more complex than what it should be. I do stand corrected that technically this is a duet but at least this isn’t a duet with a female singer and thus perhaps can make its way in this list! One can see the classic here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iSdldDEGHI&feature=related

4. Chhota sa ghar hoga (Naukri, Salil Choudhury). I just cant help but get this song in the list. The song for which an incensed Salil initially refused to give the unemployed hero a singing break and instead was about to summon Hemant Kumar to render this classic. Would Hemant been able to sing the aaa, aae re part the way Kishore so evocatively did? Well, it is only left to imagination as one hears the classic here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRfgKRy-W7E&NR=1

5. Kunven mein kuud ke (Parivar, Salil Choudhury). Another Salil number. When I began my research on the early fifties numbers, I was quite prepared to find a clutch of SD classics and perhaps a couple of others, it is quite incredible to note the number of Salil classics I unearthed in the early/middle fifties. Hear this and let me know if this shouldn’t be one of Kishore’s comic leitmotifs - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUBUSEhlRuI

6. Nakherwali (New Delhi, Shanker Jaikishen), a song I heard in school and was immediately humming it. I still remember one of my classmates and I were studying for our Class Ten exams late in the evening in Calcutta with Vividh Bharati playing at a very low volume as a background to our concentration when this song came along. Wordlessly my friend looked at me and then turned to the radio to turn the volume higher and a for a few seconds we forgot the exams on the morrow and instead enjoyed a perennial classic. This song just makes one wonder why SJ were so frugal in employing Kishore when they were at their fifties zenith. Hear it hear and wonder whether Kishore and SJ should have been made for each other - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAqfsRgX_gE&feature=PlayList&p=4AD116A3E9306A81&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=12

7. Are Bhai Nikal ke aa ghar se (New Delhi, Shanker Jaikishen). From the same New Delhi comes the other Kishore classic, hear it here and wonder SJ did justice to the talent they had at their path breaking disposal http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ7n9Dyy74M&feature=related. New Delhi had other classics including the third Kishore number (Milte hi nazar aap) and most notably the Lata number – tum sang preet lagayi which had the SJ imprimatur written all over it, while the Kishore numbers didn’t really sound like the SJ of the fifties, did it? SJ’s reluctance to employ Kishore was probably best exemplified in Shararat (1958) where Kishore lip synced a Rafi classic – Ajab hai dastan teri yey zindagi. Arresting stuff when put over in the voice of Rafi but perhaps leaves a little bit to be desired in the Kishore voice, doesn’t it?

8. Aisi Shaadi Se Hum (Baap Re Baap, O P Nayyar). Simply impossible for anyone but Kishore to sing. This song has snatches of several songs which became hits later on (the yodeling in this song bears marked resemblance to the Main hoon Jhumroo number and on can hear snatches of deem nei tobu naam taar dingo from the Bangali Lokuchuri). Hear it here and let me know if you know a more funny song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIEHBJt9RNI&feature=related

9. Jeevan Ke safar mein rahi (Munimji, S D Burman). A classic that has stood the test of time. A debonair Dev and a coquettish Nalinin Jaywant made for lovely watching. Not just this Kishore-Lata tandem (well tandems are allowed in this list, duets aren’t), all the songs were superb and we saw SD Burman alternate Hemant and Kishore on Dev – something he did quite consistently – alternating Hemant, Rafi and Kishore on Dev & with remarkably few exceptions till Gambler. Hear it hear and lets again understand why it stood the test of time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt_sZNMUJs0


10. Oonche Sur Mein Gaye Ja (House no 44, S D Burman). This movie was a musical jewel and perhaps the younger readers and enthusiasts would more likely remember the Hemant classics on Dev Anand (Chup Hai Dharti, Teri Duniya mein jeense se) or even the Lata number picturised on a resplendent Kalpana Kartik (Phailie hui sapnon ki baahen) but the pick for me was the Kishore number. Hear it for yourself and let me know if Kishore’s exhilarating pace was meant for the naughty Dev. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUYchyLiwnM

11.12, 13 I am sorely tempted to make this a best 13 and not a best 10 as there is no way I can miss the three Funtoosh classics (Ae meri topi palat ke aa, Denewala Jab Bhi deta and Dukhi man mere). Just see them here and let me know if Dev and Kishore weren’t but made for each other!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9ZIo6hsBBc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V57mevzgnFM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpRRm5-0WhA

14. Chhahe koi kush ho (Taxi Driver, S D Burman) I was about to end this at Funtoosh when I realized I haven’t done full justice to Kishore- SD-Dev combination – how can I leave out Taxi Driver – a movie where Dada Burman made Kishore compete for the vocal superiority with Talat Mahmood on a playful Dev? A Taxi Driver which won SD his first Filmfare award for the Talat classic – Jayen to Jayen kahan. Hear Mastram here and become one – the joi de vivre is perennial isn’t it? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUAIs5MFhrc and let me know if SD’s constant mix and match of Talat, Hemant, Rafi and Kishore on a debonair Dev was good value.

I do realize I have missed some classics from Ladki (1953) and the Karan Dewan enacted Bahar (1951) and I haven’t included the songs sung for Raj Kapoor in Pyar but this small list should be enough for everyone to look at the pre-’56 Kishore afresh – a time when he was a singing, comic star and not the voice of the superstars of the seventies. I think younger readers and Kishore fans would be delighted to peruse the early Kishore – a Kishore before he became almost synonymous with Pancham.

Well, those are my fourteen - a fourteen that showcases a Kishore when he was starting out, a Kishore before he became the best known male singer in the country and a Kishore when he had to ask music directors to give him a chance to take him seriously as a singer...

Why did it take him 2 decades to reach the pinnacle? Even die-hard Rafi fans like me wonder - did the great music directors of the fifties err by not using Kishore enough? What magic could a Shanker Jaikishen have achieved if they had lavished their magic on Kishore less sparingly than they actually did? Points to ponder...

The Garden of Eden

Eden...the name evokes a feeling of tranquility, green palms swaying gently in the breeze and a sense of contentment...none of these were in display when I landed at the Eden the morning of the day after the day of Valentine to witness the second test match between India and South Africa.

A stunning bowling performance from Dale Steyn and a work-over from Morne Morkel had the famed Indian batting line up collapse to a rare home innings defeat (funny but all three innings defeats in the past couple of decades have come at the hands of the Proteas) in front of empty stands in Nagpur but the Indian bowlers stuck back after two barren sessions on day 1 of the test to leave India in - on paper possessing the finest batting talent on the planet - a significantly better position. As I was taking my seat, India had taken the last wicket and Sehwag and Gambhir were about to commence. What transpired in the next 4 hours was amongst the most skillful batting one could hope to see. The same bowlers who has so terrorized the Indian line up were shown up as ordinary, the ball fled to the boundary with astonishing regularity and once Sachin and Sehwag came on together, it was a sight for the Gods. One was perfection personified, all technique, head still, hitting the ball with the full face of the bat and the other, all bristling aggression, skillful without being a slave to technique.

The Eden is an amazing place to watch cricket, you probably get better views in Chepauk or Lords or in Sydney - being smaller and perhaps better oriented grounds - but the sheer joi de vivre of the Eden crowd makes up for everything.The crowd is very eclectic, diverse, extremely knowledgeable & extremely friendly...in the days when I was a student in Calcutta and a regular to the Eden during test matches, serious bonding would happen over the five days of the test match. The sense of humor is something unique to Calcutta and the noise, corwds, discomfort and pollution does nothing to diminish the wise cracks that constantly emanate from the crowds much like the Sehwag cuts that punctuate the square boundary with metronomic regularity.

I was entering the Eden after more than a decade and half & more than half of the Eden was under renovation with the seating capacity considerably reduced but the feeling of nostalgia was incredible. I could almost 'see' Binny bowling from the High Court end getting rid of 3 quick Pakistan wickets late on the fourth day trying to set India to an improbable victory with us kids desperately shouting ourselves hoarse in an ultimately futile task in '86, I could almost visualize the bat flying out of a hopping Gavaskar's bat from a Marshall flier in '83 stunning a full house crowd and a lean & not mean Azhar elegantly square driving with a late minute flick of his wrists a Richard Ellison outswinger to the square cover boundary in '84. Beautiful memories and add the memories of actually playing on the hallowed turf - a turf where India's perhaps greatest victory was won - in 2001 against a mighty Australian side.

It was heartening to note that the crowds still throng the Eden for a test match at a time when matches are being played in empty grounds in the rest of the country, the sense of humor is intact (well, the language has changed from almost pure Bengali in my school days to a mixture of Hindi, English & Bengali now but which does nothing to diminish the spontaneous humor), the crowds are perhaps even more of a diverse set now with the yuppie crowd in significant numbers & the oranges are still on sale at the entrance to Gate 11. Brilliant, some things dont change and hopefully they never should.

The crowd, the pitch, the ground, the tradition of Eden - all beggar one question - why are so few test matches being played at the traditional Test Match grounds in India? Why doesn't the BCCI decide on a set of cities for test matches - Bangalore, Madras, Calcutta, Bombay, Delhi & Kanpur as cities which will host at least one Test match a year & allocate the other tests to the non-traditional centers like Nagpur and Mohali? I am sure Sachin wont have felt very happy crossing Lara's record in front of an empty Mohali stadium nor would Dale relished bowling in front of blue plastic seats at the Jamatha in Nagpur - nothing drives a sportsman more than a bunch of vociferous spectators and when the crowd gets going at the Eden, there is no more exhilarating sight in Cricket.

Ask Vishwanath and the ovation he got after a magnificent 97 in '75-75 against a rampant Andy Roberts or Tiger when he was clapped off the field with his bold moves early on the final morning to win the test match against the finest battery of fast bowlers after being roundly booed for the same tactics which didnt yield any results for an hour or more. Ask my father who still nostalgically recounts this test match for me.

Will Continental get my business again?

I dont know how many of you have read the news that former President of India, Abul Kalam was frisked at Delhi airport waiting to board a Continental flight to New York. I did, followed with interest the various blogs, news items about uproar in the assembly, insinuations that Hillary Clinton should be subject to a similar tit for tat (no puns here :)), reactions if a similar incident had happened in China blah blah blah.

A few points immediately come to mind - Indian's recent preoccupation with China, a new found sense of assertive outrage (I havent seen too much of this earlier) and the sheer number folks writing in the comments column expressing their displeasure in no uncertain terms.

The Chinese connection is the easiest to understand - I think the rise of the internet and thus freely available information has made Indians realise just how far behind we are to the Chinese in terms of Global influence and development - I think this feeling of jealousy is good - good for us to wish and work towards a better standard of living, development and better support for folks like us living elsewhere but still carrying the Indian passport with demonstrated pride.

However, the other side of the coin - the spirit of Indian freedom allows folks like me and everyone else to express themselves without any fear - I wonder if ordinary Chinese would have the same freedom of expression. I dont know but what I read in the papers suggests - perhaps not. Lets ensure India retains that precious and irreplaceable freedom of expression.

Now back to the news item - I actually have 2 questions here - One - would we all perceive the same sense of outrage if say a Laloo Yadav was frisked? I say perhaps not :). Two, would Continental ever get my business again? That's easy - NO. Not because of anything else - but simply for the sheer sense bullheadedness of their staff - I think doing something like this in an emotionally charged country like India was downright stupid - wonder what the person who controlled the World's fifth largest Nuclear Button could have carried in his shoe is beyond my comprehension.

I cant trust the airline which couldnt figure that one out with my life now, can I?

A Whale of a time...

June & July are the months of the annual whale migration from the cold Antarctic where they eat to the warm tropics where they breed. Sydney is on their journey and thus we are privileged to witness one of Nature's greatest sights - whales swimming past us, with their jets of water released from their version of a blowhole. Interesting - these huge creatures - some of them weighing well over 40 Tons dont eat for months on end - the females eat only after they have given birth.

Yesterday, we took one of the numerous whale watching cruises from Darling Harbor to see the magnificent spectacle. The ship went down the Parramatta river under the Harbour Bridge and past the iconic Opera House in glorious sunshine, with strong cold winds blowing past us. The Heads - the Heads is the name given to the area where the river meets the Pacific - were rough and for us sitting right at the foredeck , it felt more like a ride on one of the rollercosters at Luna park (a few miles to our left) than the ocean. The sea remained rough all throughout the ride and it was about an hour from the Heads that we first came to the Whale migration spectacle.

It all began innocuously enough, the volunteer sitting next to me pointed to something that looked suspiciously like a larger surf on the ocean surface about 600 meters away - it took us a few more minutes to realise that we were indeed in sight of the largest creature the world has ever seen. Closer up, at about 150 meters away, the blowhole was jetting water up at least 10 meters - often the sheer amount of space on the ocean dulls the sense of time, distance and size - however there was no mistaking the sight of the creature that came up a couple of seconds after we saw the water jetting up the blowhole. It must have been at least 50 feet long, dark grey in color with spots underneath its jaws and black fins spearing through the rough sea. The mind was numbed for a moment with the spectacle before the scramble began to get the cameras and the recorders out and in action. Thrilling stuff.

After about an hour of witnessing these marvelous creatures and after the volunteer mentioned that he can spend all his life watching them (& I agree with him), we began the journey back to Sydney. We went into the cockpit for some coffee and I saw a very pertinent sign there - 'We love Japanese but hate whale killing'. As my wife and I sat drinking coffee in companionable silence, we both spoke almost simultaneously - how can someone have the heart to kill them? They are so beautiful...

Hard to imagine - if you dont believe me, please take a look and let me know if there are grander sights on earth.

Dada makes news again...

http://www.itimes.com/public_main_community.php?gid=16998&ref=toi_sg

I dont know how many of you have read the news - Sourav Ganguly the enfant terrible of Indian cricket is threatening to get into active administration. Saurav was always someone who fascinated me - brash, outspoken, giften (both with the bat and with a golden arm), mercurial and with a mind of his own - almost everything one doesnt credit a Bengali with. From a player accused of being too lazy to carry his own baggage in his first tour, he emerged - first as a supremely giften No 3 bat in England where Indian hearts immediately realised was the emergence of the next great batting line up (Dravid made his debut the same match with a skillful 90 odd) and then as a Captain - with startling clarity of thought, ruthless in his execution, skillful in team management and lucid in his commentary. A new chapter in Indian cricket history was waiting to be written - & what a chapter it was.

Saurav's new innings seems very interesting - we have an obviously intelligent man, highly experienced and someone who always got the best out of his team - entering cricket administration. I hope his innings at the administrative helm becomes as successful as the one as a player.

He has the best credentials anyway...

There are News and there are NEWS again

I dont know how many read this remarkable news - http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/south-korean-president-donates-millions-20090706-da9v.html

Great news as these are normally sent to the back pages - almost as if good news are irrelevant to the Press folks who want to remain almost totally in the grips of the sleaze and squalid. Human nature is one which is naturally benevolent, visionary and farsighted - the environment, pressure, competition and circumstances dulls the edges and makes it more malevolent than it actually is. I think the Press has an essential role to play in popularizing the good side of us - decreasing its almost obsessive interest in crime, politics and sensationalism. If you look at the front pages of any newspaper, the headline news are almost always sensational and negative...why cant we have such a news as the headline? Why cant the newspapers be filled with positive news and banish the negative ones to the back pages? I wonder - but then I am not a newspaper man...

Perhaps, we can revert back to the tradition of India's national newspaper - The Hindu which was the only newspaper not to carry news of Gandhiji's assassination on its front pages - because it then used to solely publish advertisements on its front page

Interesting, indeed.

Tennis and Tantrums

The last few days has been a study in contrast for me - waiting is never a good time if you are like me - impatient, full of beans...the one good point of waiting was the opportunity afforded to work less and watch TV more. Thus Wimbledon '09 and some of the finest matches ever played happened for the right time for me and I was priveleged to watch some of the matches. A few of them stood out - I like the way Federer took apart the giant Croat Ivo Karlovic, the semi finals with Haas was one played in the best possible sporting spirit (are the Aussies and the Poms watching and listening in the Ashes build-up?), the finals was one of the best I have ever seen.

I must admit I have never stepped into a Tennis Court (a Lawn Tennis Court - I do play a bit of Table tennis - better than a bit I daresay) and thus am blissfully unaware of the technical aspects of the game, the speed, skill and ball-sense that is needed to be a Tennis player. However, I have been fairly consistent in watching Tennis - especially the ones beamed live from the hallowed grounds at Wimbledon all the way to an India just waking up to the possibility of live matches available of Indian Television. My mind goes back to the matches on '84 which is probably my first recollection of watching tennis and I was instantly smitten by the brash, bold and bountifully talented McEnroe - his exhibition of tennis and tantrums as an art in 1984 I think has never been bettered and add his marvellously emotive & expressive face, you have all the makings of an anti-hero. I do recollect the boom boom wunderkid Becker in '85 and his titanic struggles with Andres Jarryd and Kevic Curran - dont recollect too much of the matches for the next few years...till 1989 when I recollect the match between Edberg and Becker then in the midst of their great grass-court rivalry.

Anyway enough of digressing - lets get back to the matches on display over the weekend - both the finals were great spectator marvels - the ladies final was remarkable for the power, accuracy and poise of Serena who was quite clearly the better of the two sisters and the mens' finals was remarkable as a slugfest between two of the three most talented players on the planet. The interesting fact was that Federer outdid Roddick in the aces columns - something few of us could comprehend - just goes to demonstrate the accuracy and precision of the Swiss maestro that makes up for the obvious lack of brute power. While the groundstrokes were a treat to watch and the serving par excellence - what I missed most was the loss of volleying as a key attacking component of an all round game. One misses the accuracy of an Edberg, the athleticism of a Becker and an inventiveness of an McEnroe at the net - games now a days lack that bit of spectacle when the volley is little used.

Well, I cant quibble after being priveleged to watch one of the longest and best matches played on Center Court at Wimbledon now, can I?

Letting Sleeping Dogs lie...

Indian politicians suffer from one incurable disease - not being able to let sleeping dogs lie.

Look at the Lieberhan commission and its reporting - it took the commission millions of dollars and 17 years to table a report which was clear as daylight the minute one sees the Television footage - what took them 17 years to come to a conclusion which is not going to make a difference to our country one way or other? How is the report going to benefit the country? What is the positive side of this report - I can think of quite a few negative ones though & we are already seeing a few being played out? When will we grow up - in intelligence, stature, vision, patriotism as opposed to jingoism - to focus on areas that we really need to improve and create a difference? The more I think about India, I feel more sad - sheer waste of some of the finest talents the world has ever seen. At the same time, when the same group of politicians put their mind into something, they can make a difference - look at Modi in Gujarat and Nitish in Bihar - two ends of the development spectrum - one starting and building from a positive base and the other starting from somewhere close to the rock bottom in the development landscape. What they have achieved goes beyond GDP and numbers - they have inculcated pride in their states and the people living in them - no longer will Bihari be a metaphor for the under-developed parts of India and hopefully no longer will Gujarat immediately invoke Godhra war cries from each of the religious camps

Can we have more enlightened, educated, enterprising politicians please with the necessary expertise to WANT to make a positive difference? This is where India has been singularly unlucky - we really never had a group of folks at the top wanting to make a positive difference or not getting the necessary freedom of thought and action for doing so.

Hope we have a day soon when 80+% politicans are in the job because they want to see a better India - not just a better themselves & their narrow communities. Till such time, I can only consider the progress we make as being made despite the system & not because of the availability of an enabling environment.

Indian Airports...

I commenced writing this on a notepad waiting interminably in the waiting hall in Calcutta airport for a flight back to Sydney via Bangkok and it stuck me - I was probably in the most ancient looking airport I have been for a very long time.

I travel often to India - a lot less often than when GFC was an unknown 3 letter word - and occasionally travel through Calcutta where my parents live. I rarely have time to kill at the airport but this time I checked in earlier than usual - blame the unusually less traffic - but it stuck me suddenly - Where did Calcutta get left behind in the rush to modernity? As I began typing this on a notepad (as evidently the wifi wasnt working - does it ever work??? Can someone comment on this?), I realised - not just Calcutta but all the Indian airports have been left behind, way way behind. Forget the snazzy new terminal at Changi or the gigantic terminals (& half empty most of the time) at KL, even smaller airports across APAC look great, have good service, good lounges, working wifi and decent shopping and food. In Calcutta, all we had for food was a coffee shop and a cold drink vendor who didnt even stock Thums Up which my daughter and I both adore. Nothing to eat. It was a sad state to see the city which was called Paris of the east fade away so suddenly and absolutely - and one cant even blame a war or natural disaster on this.

Makes one feel very sad indeed. Where does all the tax money that folks like me pay (despite living and working in Sydney) go? The government claims to make progress - where??? Someone will claim that we need to spend on poverty alleviation - but there can be no development until the base infrastructure is in place - that has to commence with world class airports and services at the primary entry points.

Is someone listening?

The memory is 26 years young...

They say memories fade with time, become sepia tinted and the edges get blurred, the details arent quite there...there is one memory though of a 13-14 year old, energetic kid that refuses to do any of those - the memory of India winning the 1983 cricket world cup. My childhood days in Calcutta were full of intellectual discussions - whether Zico should or should not have taken THAT penalty shot, whether Paolo Rossi was indeed the great striker he came to be in the '82 Football world cup or whether a Maradona can ever become the all round great Pele was...however all the sport centric discussions centered around football, often about the local matches but occasionally on the global scale - typically a few months prior to the world cup. All this changed through one thrilling week in June when India went through to the last four and then the finals of the Cricket world cup. I was always more than a decent cricket player and played for my class and club as a studious opening batsman till I was about 12 years old, and a considerably better cricketer than a footballer but we all - as Calcuttans - loved our soccer. Thus even though I was known to be a good cricketer, I never got the recognition that the good football players in my class got - I was merely an appendage but the footballers were the REAL thing. Those couple of weeks changed the way we kids lived, breathed and most importantly played -suddenly I was more popular than the footballers and classmates and neighbouring kids suddenly wanted to be seen with me and discuss THAT square drive the ebullient Srikanth (he had a single K in his name those days) played to a rampaging Roberts and whether Viswanath would have hit the same shot behind square as opposed to in front of...it was a game changer not just for India, but also for one of its insignificant kids in a Calcutta moffussil. The best memories for me are of the match itself. My uncle took a day off from work, my grandfather - then recently retired said he retired at the right time & for a change didn't ask me to study for my Class 9 exams, my grandmother was wide eyed with wonder that her country was in the FINALS of the world cup - a festive atmosphere reigned for the hours leading the finals. We had our usual share of neighbours, friends, relatives - all crammed into the 12 feet by 12 feet living room with us small kids being banished to squat right in front of the television while the elders occupied the pride of places on the sofas and the chairs. However, all discomfort - perceived and otherwise - disappeared the moment the match started. For me and my memories, there are 3 incidents that stand out - the square drive from Srikant that hit the boundary boards at point even before the fielder at point completed twisting around, the inswinger that got rid of Greenidge and the easy Lloyd catch by Kapil at mid off off a swinging Binny delivery. I am not mentioning about the the defining moment here - that catch of Viv - not because of sepia tints but because I only saw the replay - I was answering nature's call then the live images were beamed and I only heard the eruption of noise from the toilet which told me a key wicket had fallen. Time has passed and while India has moved on to become the most serious force in commercial cricket, it still hasn't won the world cup, it still hasn't beaten Australia in Australia and SA in SA - till those happen, I lie content with the non-sepia tinted memories as a 14 year old - & for a change, recollect the win over Pak in Pak five years back...more on that one in another post perhaps.

A New Paradigm - Blue Ocean Strategy

Blue Ocean Strategy is a thought provoking articulation of a strategy in creating value-innovation - essentially creating new markets rather than competing in existing markets - Red Oceans. This is a very interesting approach by Professors Chan Kim and Rene Maugorgne of INSEAD


Essentially the business world consists of 2 parts - the highly competitve, price/quality differentiated existing markets (called the Red Ocean as a metaphor for intense competitive landscape) and the newer, emerging, innovation defined markets ('Blue Oceans') which are often extensions of existing Red oceans but with some unique identifiers that create value.

The strategy talks about creating unique value and uses a very user-friendly tool based approach to develop the RERC (Reduce, Eliminate, Raise, Create) Grid to commnence developing the strategy. Additionally several strategies used by companies in varied fields from Culture and Entertainment (Circue du Soleil) to FMCG (Yellowtail) are described and elucidated using very easy to comprehend graphs and tables. All in all, a very interesting and perceptive look at creating differentiation in a crowded marketplace.

At HCL, the Blue Ocean strategy is one of the three key cornerstones for creating a value system - the others being the Employee First and Integrated Service Delivery. At HCL, we are constantly encouraged to think out of the box and use the available tools and frameworks in BO to draft business ideas, templates and define ideas for exponential revenue/profit generation - the key to the business strategy is 'Exponential' & not linear value/revenue/P&L creation

I was one of the speakers privileged to be invited by one of the leading Rotary Clubs in Chennai (formerly Madras) in India to address a very august group on Blue Ocean strategy in a fund raiser event. I thought the event was very well organized, had excellent speakers (despite yours' truly), was very well attended and for me, it was a great experience to share the dias with some of the best known folks in indian academia and industry.

Transformation at HCL – an interesting case study

Recently I was asked to speak at the FST (http://www.fst.net.au/agenda.aspx?confid=2) on transformation and what we did at HCL which elicited attention from some of the leading thinkers, analysts and journalists. I thought it may be a good idea to invite some thought process on what we did, why we attempted to do what we did and where we are in regards to the transformation agenda. Also we may discuss on some of the key learnings we have had as a result of this exercise, some areas where we did better than the rest. All in all I thought it was an interesting session and one of my proudest moments came when I was asked for a copy of the presentation made and asked to present by the CTO of a leading Bank in APAC to his team in Melbourne & Sydney. Not a bad day’s work I would imagine.

More soon to come...

Conversational Marketing

Conversational Marketing is a marketing communications strategy and philosophy that helps companies drive revenue through their CRM strategies. By incorporating a listening based marketing communications strategy such as Conversational Marketing, companies can have more productive communications, be more efficient with their revenue generation and better differentiate themselves from their competitors

Soon to come...