I'm sorry

If I hurt or upset you, I’m sorry.
If I betrayed your trust or let you down, I’m sorry.
If I didn’t deliver on a promise I made, I’m sorry.
If I crossed a line or fell short of expectation, I’m sorry.
If I cheated, robbed, or distorted the truth, I’m sorry.
If I was selfish, rude or purposefully mean, I’m sorry.
If I am in anyway responsible for anything or anyone in any capacity feeling less happy or less loved this past year or any time before that I am truly, truly sorry.

Ok, 2009, here I come.

The lost decade

Forgive the constant context of the world economy right now, given that it is big news and only bigger in my world, because a business publication employs me.
One of the several buzz words to emerge is the ‘lost decade’, with reference to Japan. Word is, from 1990 to 2000, the economy in Japan basically got screwed and a whole ten years was lost, monetarily.
I look back at this past decade, given there is a year to go, and wonder, if in terms of an achievement-to- potential ratio, 2000-2010 will be the lost decade for me? Monetarily.

Going green

When I first decided not to get my driver’s licence it was circumstantial. Then, it was laziness. Then, it was below my dignity to go through a process that requires dedication and commitment normally reserved for the getting of a degree. All this means I don’t own a car.
Now, this is taking on a green hue. It’s become a pro-environmental decision. Me not having a car is now my contribution to reducing pollution and therefore, saving the planet.
Seriously though, I am increasingly finding my awareness of the health of Mother Earth becoming acute. No plastic is next.

Good pride, bad pride

Pride is like money. It has no meaning if it is not qualified. So, in a rare foray into the philosophical realm of morality, I am going to state today, that there is good pride and bad pride. Much like there is good money and bad money.
Good pride is when it costs you something very tangible, thought not always materialistic, to have pride. When a sacrifice is involved to be proud then, that pride is good.
Bad pride is when being proud costs you nothing and, as my own experience testifies, ends up costing or hurting someone else.

Me and Pakistanis

I live with Pakistanis. They are my neighbours, my colleagues, my grocer and driver.
The Mumbai attack and all the war posturing has strained our perfect world here in the Gulf.
Indians take it for granted that educated Pakistanis accept that there is a section of Pakistan that aids and abets terror, and has its hand in terror attacks on India. If these Pakistanis exist, I have not met them.
The educated Pakistani believes Pakistan is innocent and India is the aggressor – the Mumbai attack being a homegrown conspiracy. So we don’t discuss it... with each other, i.e.

Ooops! and a Merry Christmas

There’s a mistake in the previous post as Rohan has pointed out. It should read Valuev and the Klitschko brothers - Vladimir and Vitali. But it’s Christmas, so be kind and forgiving.
Midnight mass is one of those spritual gatherings that transcends religion. It’s like the kumbh mela for Catholics, only with skirts and suits. The celebration of the birth of Jesus – call him prophet, saviour, or dude who could turn water into wine – marks a moment of hope available to all. If you haven’t been to midnight mass, you must.
As you must visit the Kumbh.

Boxing change

There is a huge hole in world boxing right now. It has been created by the dearth of a true heavyweight champion of the world. The Valuev brothers dominate today, but after Tyson, and then Holyfield briefly… it’s been boring. There’s more action in the lower weight categories with Hatton, De La Hoya, Pacquiao.
My theory is that the socio-economic conditions of the African-Americans – the true feeder to the championship of the world bouts - has improved so much that they don’t take to boxing any more. Better educated and less angry, they want to be Obama not Ali.

Boxing change

There is a huge hole in world boxing right now. It has been created by the dearth of a true heavyweight champion of the world. The Valuev brothers dominate today, but after Tyson, and then Holyfield briefly… it’s been boring. There’s more action in the lower weight categories with Hatton, De La Hoya, Pacquiao.
My theory is that the socio-economic conditions of the African-Americans – the true feeder to the championship of the world bouts - has improved so much that they don’t take to boxing any more. Better educated and less angry, they want to be Obama not Ali.

Waltz in, waltz out

I truly want to be the Rick Rubin of whatever I’m doing. Rubin is the go-to guy, the guru, the mac-daddy, the genius of the music business. All he does though, is listen to your song, tell you what’s right, or wrong, what needs to be done and then you pay him a million dollars or more, and he leaves.
Rick does not do: production schedules, appraisals, productivity charts, year-end reports, year-ahead planners… Rick does not do the nitty gritty of success.
I too want to waltz in, paint the broad strokes, and waltz out.

Rating agencies

In the whole economic Armageddon, rating agencies (eg Moody’s, S&P, etc) seemed to have escaped the radar of pundits assessing the why and wherefore of our misery.
These agencies, who I have to admit, existed only on the fringes of my universe until a year ago, when I began working for a business publication, are meant to be responsible, independent, unbiased. Their ratings are the beacons that guide investors in an extremely crowded and confused market. How then, could they have top rated those toxic fiscal instruments that are at the heart of the global economy’s woes? Any answers?

The biggest evangelist

As a critic I’ve had my share of bombs.
Sting’s Desert Rose album, I panned. And I clearly was not impressed with a first reading of Paul Coelho’s The Alchemist. I was too immersed in the very philosophy that Coelho espouses – a deeply Christian spiritual philosophy, leaning towards the Desert Fathers.
When I returned from the Desert myself, a poor unfinished product, I re-read Coelho and was then as touched as the rest of his billions of fans. If you like Coelho, you are likely in search of union with God. He is Christianity’s biggest modern evangelist.

And so this is Christmas...

And so this is Christmas, and what have we here
For the old and the young ones, a merry, good cheer.

When I was young, Christmas season began with the first carols played on a Sony deck that at the time was a treasured family possession.
As a youth, the season kicked off with a solemn promise to drink everyday till the January 1. We started around Dec15th, but I remember one year beginning on Dec 1.
For my kids, the tree needs to be up for festivities to begin.
Nowadays, I just combine all of the above …

List it!

I’m a ‘list’ junkie (cracked.com, my favourite list site). Come the year-end, everyone and their next door neighbour is putting out lists. I want to list my top ten moments for 2008, but fear it would stun some, embarrass others, but most of all, strip any veneer of anonymity I attempt when writing here (given that most who visit regularly know who is writing).
I’m still working on a way to do it without jeopardizing anybody’s sanity.
Also, it’s Christmas time and if there is anything that melts my heart like a snowflake in spring, it’s the Yuletide season.

My pet peeve - greed

Life is not complicated. Living is. That’s because we have chosen a living system base where money is the key to happiness. So, more money, more happiness. It’s not for me to say if this is right or wrong, but it is for me to observe that since World War 2, people across the world have fine tuned their lives to this basic concept. Now, it’s gone bust. The model has failed. Yet, governments across the world have so far, invested over One $trillion (and counting) to save this system. Not poverty, cancer or the planet. But systemic greed.

Detroit - Pune of the West?

The Times of India branded Pune some years ago – Detroit of the East. It was despicable branding. Why was the West needed as a reference point? Puneites had already been basking in the pseudo-sobriquet ‘Oxford of the East’ for years.
It’ll be interesting to see now if Pune does indeed, go the Detroit way. GM, Ford and Chrysler are fighting for funding to stay alive. How are Telco, Bajaj and Kinetic going to survive the crisis? And what of Pune’s DaimlerChrysler plant?
India has, so far, adroitly handled the crisis. But I sense the worst is yet to come.

Change we will

What I am about to say will be very difficult to comprehend in 99 words. However, if the seed can be sown here, it will satisfy me no end if at some later date it allows me to indulge another I-told-you-so!
If you look at humanity in the larger time-space continuum that we exist in, you will realize that we haven’t been around very long. Socially, we are still at a very nascent stage of evolution. However, at the heart of human existence over the last 50 years has been ‘the need for more’. This will change now.

Not a post

To avoid confusion, if you do want to read Vir's piece, click on the link i've pasted without the - 12. Once the link opens then turn to Page 12. That's what the - 12 is for. If for some reason the link does not open then go to Hindustan's Times' epaper (Delhi edition) and turn to Page 12. It might be a bit of trouble, but Vir's columns are always worth a read... especially when he copies me.

Me first, Vir follows

Did Vir Sanghvi steal my diagnosis? (see my post of Saturday, Nov 29 and then read his Sunday column here http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/mdRedirect.aspx?hsh=un2hBB49251duuSBn2n1T9lCtABU2vmBQDwlkHs3GZZLVAOOALkLkiCWE5Ei+BLf - Page 12).
Since I wrote first, we’ll settle it at great minds think alike ;).
The story to do is who will actually be the first to check in to The Taj when it reopens. Every celeb worth his/her salt has promised not to be daunted by the attacks and be the first to check in. That means room rates will skyrocket, or, will Ratan Tata throw a lavish reopening bash and invite India’s glitterati for free?

Keane-no!

Most news in recent days has left me disappointed. My passion for football is satiated primarily by the English Premier League. It is there that I discovered that commander of generals, the fallen angel who rose to be a legend – Roy Keane.
I was thrilled to bits that he was managing Sunderland. It offered the chance for his leadership skills to have a wider impact. Yesterday, he quit. For Keane that word - quit – never existed. I only hope there is something else that pushed him to leave, other than the poor run the club is having.

Awesome

His voice is silken like an angel’s, but his songs are down and dirty and the combination, is simply just too funky. He sang them all, not missing a beat, note or trick (he wore the famous ‘cop’ uniform as well). He’s a legend and for everyone there, it was the last chance to see him ‘live’. And Georgie played the concert like that – doing Careless Whisper and Faith and Father Figure, along with Freedom and all his other post-out-of-the-closet stuff. The show stealer for me was the acoustic version of Roxanne that he recorded years ago. Awesome.

Wham!

But what truly makes him a diva is that the crowd did not complain once. They waited like children for the ice cream truck on a hot summer day.
Georgie boy still looks good wearing his age as lightly as the slight paunch he packs. He moves with the same style and consummate ease that made him poster-boy of the 80s and sex symbol of the 90s. He hasn’t produced any great music in the recent past, but what he did in his hey-day (no gay-day jokes please) is enough to Wham! a 15,000-strong crowd into a nostalgic frenzy.

The diva

George Michael is the ultimate diva. His being gay has nothing to do with this (though it certainly lends to the aura). Consider the facts:
* Alicia Keys opens for him.
* His humongous band – two drummers, six guitarists, et al, is all crammed at the back of the stage on two tiers, leaving a 20ftx30ft space on stage only for him, and sometimes, his six back up singers.
* He takes a break during the show for 20 minutes (a live clock on stage does a countdown), after taking an hour to start in the first place.

Fallin'

Alicia Keys comes across as someone with the potential to be a jazz legend, who went the R&B-soul-pop route because of the wider appeal and money. Her voice with its tonal perfection, pitch dexterity and aching emotiveness, seems to toy with the lesser demands of the almost-jazz compositions from her new album. Of course, I waited desperately for her to sing Falling, and when she did, I thought I died and went to heaven. That Alicia came off a six-city Germany solo tour to open for George Michael here says much about Georgie boy. And her humility, I guess.

Keys to turn me on

So to escape the assault on all my senses that the aftermath of the terror attack in Mumbai is having, I went to see Alicia Keys and George Michael. If you go through the blog chronologically, you will see that recently I have had to break up one train of thought or comment because of my self imposed 99 word limit. So forgive the trend as surely George and Alicia deserve individual attention.
I haven’t ever seen someone so sexy on stage as Ms Keys. And she was fully clothed. Boy, does she have a body.., and plays piano.

Passport Indians

Not all, but most, wanted the Indian cops and NSG to resemble action figures from a Hollywood war movie. I had to contend with comments ‘Did you see our cops running around with their big paunches? And how can the ATS chief get shot first?’
These are ‘passport Indians’. There are plenty of them from Australia to Los Angeles but a particularly irritating strain in the Gulf. They are only Indians by virtue of their passport (because no other country will have them yet). So I abused them and got out of the conversation before I killed them. Literally.