Sunday, January 27, 2008

Creative Spoofs & Ads

I am a big fan of Webchutney. They have the best bunch of creative people according to me.

Here are some of their Ads & spoofs I was checking through on this lazy sunday morning (I love this time of the week- waking up at 8AM, hot cuppa kaapi, jog around the park, browse through the net for all the little arbit happenings around the world).


Makemytrip: Moving train



Makemytrip: Udee.. amazing idea!



Aids Campaign: Simple and Awesome!



Don't forget to check out some of their previous beauties, the Happydent Ad still remains my all time favourite, if you find something better let me know through your comments!

Makkadman, our desi Spiderman!
Happydent and others

Ciao till next time...Harsha

Sunday, January 20, 2008

The art of winning..

The recent India-Australia test series has been really exciting. Since I am one among the herd who likes to watch, crib, cry, laugh and rejoice with cricket.... this was a treat for me.



After the second test at Sydney, I was wondering- what is the secret of winning... what more does one do to win? Why do some teams get all the half chances, marginal decisions while the other always ends up on the wrong side? Why, why... why? May be people who judge are biased or may be one team has the extra special way of appealing (to make it look only logical to lift the finger to indicate consent) or may be it is the home advantage..

I was actually thinking along these lines. But, after watching the third test at Perth, I just changed the reasons to much more intrinsic.. more basic level of human behavior. If you watch the decisions in Sydney and Perth- there were many decisions that were wrongly judged. But, if one watches the last day of each test... surprisingly the marginal decisions went to the team that had the extra bit of 'urge to win'.

Human beings are wired to believe that the 50-50 marginal decisions should always go towards those who deserve that a little more... Somehow, just like in the movie Cinderella Man where the old champion keeps fighting... giving that one last punch to the younger, stronger opponents; or like in Forrest Gump when one man running across the country gives hope to many others spurring them to follow him... It is intrinsic human nature.

It was really nice to see that willingness to give that little bit 'extra' (watching RP Singh fighting to make every run in second innings, Ishant Sharma bowling 9 overs in a row, Sachin Tendulkar chasing the ball from widwicket to long off boundary to stop one boundary, etc etc) to win in Perth. For millions of people who watch the game with religious fervour in India, it gives that little bit of hope... that some day they can have the same winning attitude... may be they are spurred to give that 'little bit extra' in whatever they do....

Ciao till next time...Harsha

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Taare Zameen Par


As I walked out of the theater, I could see grown men with moist eyes. There were no comments like- 'Aamir Khan stole the show' or 'The title song was good' or for that matter I did not hear any comments at all..

In a strange way there was a general acceptance that - a raw nerve was touched here. The movie demanded a minute's silence to digest the message it tried to convey.

It's a fast paced world.. men are breaking all sorts of records left, right and center. Man running 100m below 9.5s looks a real possibility, 20-20 cricket seems to be catching the craze waves, computers a commonplace now to accomplish our tasks at that lightening speed, 24hrs a day sometimes seem a little less for the work we try to accomplish in a day...

Speed, in short.. has become the name of game. Where is the place for those who do not fit into this world? What happens to the chap who finishes last in the class, where will a non-Engineer/Doctor/MBA be in today's world? Does one have hope if he does not perform academically? Does academic failure in short mean failure in life? Does everyone needs to run in the same track, is it necessary to always take the beaten path? Can one live life on the parallel paths along the mainstream...?

These are some of the questions that the film tries to pose.

In the midst of it all, one message come out strongly- 'It is OK to be different'. World not only requires the fast paced professionals who have become one-too-many, but also those who can bring in fresh ideas, remind us that it is still a beautiful world to live. We also require artists, poets, paintists, actors, musicians...

The story is reminiscent of Dickens caricaturization of Tom Sawer or David Copperfield. The difference seems to be more mental than the physical variety depicted in these classics of Victorian age.

All in all... without getting philosophical, let me just say- this movie is simply too good. This is just the right kind of wake up call for all of us.

As W H Davies has commented in the poem 'Leisure'-
"WHAT is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?"

Ciao till next time...Harsha