Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Indian Idol and other shows

Indian Idol (the Indian version of American Idol) is one the worst programs to watch. (Then, why do I watch? My wife does...I dont have a choice). Worse still, it is pathetic from the point of view of good contestants; I say 'good contestants' because, it does more harm in the long run. It is good for mediocre contestants who can get come into the limelight, even though briefly.
One question is: What is the motive behind the show? As claimed by the promoters of the show: To create good playback singers? But why then do the judges ask the contestants to concentrate on performance? In the US, there is a big market for private albums. Past winners of American Idol have gone on to become Grammy winners. They have been extremely successful and the show was a platform for them to launch their careers. But there is no such market as private albums. Even if there is one, one need not have to win a talent contest to cut an album. So, the motive behind the show is to create singers for live shows that are held by musicians in various parts of the world. The winners can only hope to achieve this and nothing more. As noted earlier, this is good for mediocre singers and not good singers.
What happened to earlier winners? I am not sure; I know that Abhijith Sawanth cut 2 albums (in 3 years or 4?); Dont know what happened to Sandeep and Prashanth. The same is the case with other shows like Sa Re Ga Ma Pa. What happened to all the offers promised by all the music directors?
Then, there are these new voices (most of them 'unconventional') who are doing so well, singing good songs in Bollywood. They never had any talent show back them!
To be honest, these days such shows are more like a 'reality show'. I guess it would be better if the promoters admit and market it that way. U have some controversy (almost always created by the show's host or judges) running every week and who doesn't want controveries and rumors? The sad part is that young boys and girls (most of whom are sincere, honest, hardworking kids) become part of the drama without their knowledge.
So, take a pick, 'Bigg Boss' or 'Indian Idol'? I would certainly go with Bigg Boss...atleast the promoters are not claiming to mend the characters of the participants!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Check out this link: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/IIM-A_entrys_tougher_than_Stanford_Harvard/articleshow/3815210.cms
The heading is appropriate. Everything after that is flawed. The first line is funny. By the time I read the second line, I was rolling on the floor laughing. Economic times is a reputed paper; cant believe that they can publish such things. Here are my comments:
1. Does a program whose minimum cut-off more than another school ensure that it is a better program? :) :) Also note, there is a minimum cut-off in IIMs, but there is a band in other international schools...Does that simply mean IIMs probably do not know how to measure things other than marks?
2. The reason for keeping the cut-off high is mainly because there are so many people who score high on GMAT (and desis, as everyone knows, generally max scores in tests) and applying for IIMs... Not because of anything else...You need a way to eliminate people and it is based on marks.
3. In India, admissions are still based on one's marks. Not much on experience, diversity, personality etc, unless u are a genius. Ultimately IIMs have to place them and only those with good marks are better placed here in India (Still the case...)...Cant take a chance, u see!
4. The IIM official who has spoken has just given facts... The reporter has made up a story around it...
5. Now with IT/ITes down, I think, IIMs might have started to realize that u need people from other fields too... So they have changed the mix in the name of diversity. Didn't IIM-A realize that 'diversity' is the key for all these years?? :) :)

Lets assume, for a moment, that IIMs are better than Stanford and Harvard. If this were true, wouldn't it make the comparison void?? You dont need to mention that you are better than others; it just shows up! Its another story if you really wanted to know in what way it shows up! But it definitely shows up! No advertising needed.

Jabber? What the hell is it?

What is Jabber? Not sure; just picked it up from the thesaurus of MS-Word. I think it means: chatter. I wanted to name this blog: Crap. I dont know what to post. Neither do I know how long will I keep posting. I was forced by my friend to write one. Banu Prasad D.K. Now, I am wondering: Is he advertising for this website?
Since I have started writing one, let me also try to put what I want to do. I wanna write on day-to-day topics. I am not an intellectual, so cant write on Enginearing, Ecanomics, Maneagement or anything (Dont even know the spelling). I just wanna pen down my observations. As I stay in Bangalore-India, most of my observations will be related to this place. I am not hoping that anyone would read and comment on my thoughts. If, by mistake u happen to read, please feel free to comment/criticise my thoughts. Will be posting my first blog soon!