tete-a-tete with tea

I have been a tea-drinker all my life… In my family, tea forms an essential part of every person’s life…On any average day, the tea aroma starts blessin our house early mornin courtesy my dad… and we are talkin as early as 4 am in the mornin.. its mom’s first round around 6… and I think only one round doesnt work… Another one for breakfast at usual time…My bad riddance to bed is usually an hour later… and the kettle is at work again…if its a day to work… tea cups conitinue to dingle around us till lunch…its the last cup for quite a while for the next round is usually post the afty nap… another round in the evenin more or less concludes the day… Tea-drinking is thus an institution here…

I think more than the taste.. its the ability of tea to freshen you up… remove that marginal headache… and warm you up before an important gully cricket match… which makes it perhaps the most popular drink around… Most research shows its not really threatenin to life… not as much as coffee or coke…

Another aspect where tea rules over other soft drinks is the variety of tastes it can offer… every person in this world can make a uniquely tastin cup of tea… thats a humongous variety we are talkin about… Tea at home.. which is mostly milk considerin mother’s affection… tea at stalls.. half milk half water too much sugar.. sometimes too much tea as well… tea in the IIT mess.. some drops of milk..  some molecules of tea.. and some grains of sugar… tea in CCD.. nice cups.. !!  its not the Coke which tastes the same wherever you go… therez always somethin new your taste buds are anticipatin while someone hands you a cup…

Undoubtedly..tea is invented for a quiet company…a thoughtful one…just as wine is invented for a noisy party… the nonsense one…There is somethin in the nature of tea that leads us into a world of quiet contemplation of life… thats maybe also because we prefer drinkin tea to wine everytime we say bad riddance to bed….

The Chinese are no doubt the masters in tea cultivation and tea makin… it appears that for them.. tea is a kind of religious and spiritual drink… Here is what the chinese say :

Proper moments for drinking tea:
When one’s heart and hands are idle.
Tired after reading poetry.
When one’s thoughts are disturbed.
Listening to songs and ditties.
When a song is completed.
Shut up at one’s home on a holiday.
Playing the ch’in and looking over paintings
Engaged in conversation deep at night.
Before a bright window and a clean desk.
With charming friends and slender concubines.
Returning from a visit with friends.
When the day is clear and the breeze is mild.
On a day of light showers.
In a painted boat near a small wooden bridge.
In a forest with tall bamboos.
In a pavilion overlooking lotus flowers on a summer day.
Having lighted incense in a small studio.
After a feast is over and the guests are gone.
When children are at school.
In a quiet, secluded temple.
Near famous springs and quaint rocks.

Reading this ancient list… I am reminded perhaps of our need to reconnect with friends… with art… with nature and to relax… How long is it since you read a poem… looked at paintings… drank tea in a forest for example ??  Not to mention the charmin friend(s)…though it must be conceded our lifestyles dont allow us these luxuries anymore…

Moments when one would should stop drinking tea:
At work.
Watching a play.
Opening letters.
During big rain and snow.
At a long wine feast and a big party.
Going through documents.
On busy days.
Generally conditions contrary to those enumerated in the above section.

Perhaps in these activities… our attention is distracted or engaged on a task… therefore we cannot fully appreciate our tea… Better to keep it for later… when we have some leisure to appreciate it… the aroma.. the taste… sip by sip…the sound when the cup strikes the saucer… and let it become part of our personal ‘relaxation ceremony ’…

Each cup of tea represents an imaginary voyage.

~Catherine Douzel

24 hours later

Hmm… so post the first 24 hours of this blog goin public… it had 126 unique hits…Even though I was expecting a late surge, this has far exceeded my expectations… Thank you all for visitin… your comments eagerly awaited..

Keep visitin this space for more…..

life’s cool !

cheers !!!

Maggie.

The case of Narendra Modi

Men should be men… Should standby by whatever they believe in and take on the world, if needed… I think Narendra Modi falls very much into the category… precise, distinct, direct, and disciplined use of words and an honest belief in whatever he says…

“Actually, I have not spent a single minute on my image and that can also be a reason. I am busy with my work. I am committed to Gujarat. I am dedicated to Gujarat. I never talk about my image. I never spent a single minute for my image and therefore confusions may be there”

Thats Modi in an interview recently…

No doubt, he is a demagogue, who let Gujarat burn and let innocent people get killed. But one can’t ignore the fact that today Gujarat is flourishing… It stands among the states that contribute the most to the national GDP (nearly INR 10,000 million)… It is one of the most attractive destinations for foreign investment in India and it is on Kerala’s path of providin education to everybody in the state… If one says that it is all due to the resilient people of Gujarat who are makin all this possible, then one can’t blame him for any mishap in the state…

The Rajeev Gandhi foundation has declared Gujarat to be the best-administered state in India… India Today, on two separate occasions, declared him the most efficient Chief Minister around…Not that these laurels come for free… or without reason… These things became possible only because he has been successful in givin clean, effective and progressive governance over last five years… Outside Gujarat, most people like to hate Modi… but there is a definitive change of views once their eyes themselves amaze to the powerful infrastructure… Gujarat shinin…

I believe that in a democratic and dynamic country, masses have the last word and masses always override media and other speculations… The truth will finally dawn on the people… It’s the people of Gujarat who will decide the fate of this man..

Finally, I don’t think many news channels have shown Gujarat and Modi in a positive manner… For Modi to gain power nationwide, thats somethin he needs to work on… For the rest.. he is the best CM…

… and if an evidence is needed.. here is some :

Modi dares Congress to file case of sedition against him
16 Jun 2008, 1421 hrs IST,PTI

SURAT: A week after daring the Centre to remove Gujarat from the list of centrally-assisted states, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has hit out at the Congress again.

“I invite the whole Congress regime, please do not waste a single day, book me for sedition today and hang me. Let me see how they can,” he said while addressing a public function here on Sunday.

“But how can they? They have not been able to hang Afzal Guru,” he added referring to the man convicted for terror attack on Parliament in 2001.

Modi has been playing political rhetoric again in recent days. At a function in Vadodara last week, he said Gujarat gives Rs 40,000 crore as taxes to the Centre and receives only 2.5 per cent of it in return.

He asked the government to stop collecting taxes from Gujarat and also stop aid to the state. The Congress questioned Modi’s remarks and said they were “nothing less than an assault on the idea of India.”

During recent Gujarat elections, Modi’s controversial statements reaped rich dividends for him. He had taken on Congress chief Sonia Gandhi for calling him a ‘maut ka saudagar (merchant of death).’

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) looks at itself at the only party strong enough to deal with terror and is not leaving any opportunity to hit out at the Congress.

Modi has kick-started the BJP’s new campaign before general elections due next year. And he is looking ahead to a larger role in national politics.

The case of IPL

The IPL cricket tournament has been interestin for a couple of reasons: It showed how innovation in services can be appealin to consumers and it showed how competition and globalisation can bring improvements… There are also lessons the IPL can learn from successful sports franchises elsewhere… for instance… the EPL…

The innovation is the most strikin aspect… By re-packagin the sedate game of cricket to somethin with non-stop action… and by reducin the time investment that spectators need to put in for the event… the IPL administrators have modernised it in quite a big way… It has also converted attendin the 20-20 game into a family event like going to the movies, or a picnic,  whether you watch the action and the girls at home or in the stadium…

This has especially  appealed to women particularly housewives… for the three hours required is somethin a busy housewife can afford to spare… as compared to having to spend all day watchin the game… Besides, fast-movin games have instinctive appeal… which is why soccer finds such a ready audience everywhere…

All of this has been described in the insightful book Blue Ocean Strategy (IITB liby ! ) as an example of creating a new and uncontested playin field, creatin an arena where the competition simply cannot compete… therez nothin to compete against… Unique and Sellin… worst than monopoly as far as profit makin is concerned… Consider this : SRK made 15 crores in the first edition itself… it will take a person of his stature 5 great movies annualy to match this revenue… the figure might become 25 in the second edition… Will he be actin anymore… or he’d rather just tell everyone in the country except Ganguly about the best Talc, best clothings, best soaps, best toothpastes, best Utensil Detergent, maybe even best Phenyls… and preach Ganguly about the importance of his Muslim Bro Shoaib Akhtar…

nyway, the IPL has to some extent re-branded cricket and reached a new customer base… which may be indifferent to the game… but has discovered the pleasures of the stadium or social experience with family and friends… also, there have been complaints that Indian professional cricket being a cozy little world… zealously guarded by a few… with hardly any opportunities for others to break in… Indeed, it appears as though the hitherto excluded have managed to excel in the IPL version of the game… as it was not necessarily the established stars who delivered the big performances…

A cursory glance shows that many standouts were unheard-of Indian or foreign players… This is good for the game… but we must spare a tear for the owners who shelled out mega-bucks for under-achieving big-name stars… It is especially good for the unheralded players who enjoyed limelight of international audience… This should provide a steady stream of hungry, newly-discovered players who can revitalise national teams…

All of this is poetic justice… and an indication yet again that money talks… The money in cricket is all in India… which is unfortunate because all the money is for cricket and nothin else…

But there are a number of other improvements that can be thought of… One is the salary cap… Each team is allowed a certain aggregate amount that it can use to pay its players… but that upper limit may not be exceeded… This will prevent rich franchise owners from cornering the market… Secondly, there is a draft, whereby all the new players coming into the game come from a central pool…

All said and done… I am surely awaitin the next edition of IPL..

The New Shatabdi Experience

I guess numbers really impress everyone.. So here are a few  :

An Average of 20 trains commute between Ahmedabad and Mumbai one way every day…each one more than loaded to capacity… thats an awful 30k people one way traffic every 24 hours… and thats an enormous source of revenue… perennial… vital…

If you drive across these 2 cities.. then you overtake an average of 800 trucks having more than 8 wheels during the daytime.. This number merely reduces to 500 at night…So thats another ‘lot of people’ and freight through the corridor..

The cheapest fare between the two cities is prices Rs. 140 in a Super-fast Seater which takes 7 hours for the journey… So the real deal is : At 50% students concession, I pay Indian Railways INR 70 to get me from Mumbai to Ahmedabad.. and I pay a CNG Auto INR 60 from the Station back home…

The last time I was browsing.. there were 16 flights a day connectin these 2 cities.. I refrain from the count here…

In such a scenario.. its really pointless to add showpieces or dead infra to the system… The demand is so high and supply so low that comfort and luxury takes a backseat… However, our very honourable Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav  decided to have a  TV screen for every 2 passengers on board the Shatabdi Express… heights of luxury I’d say.. esp for Indian Railways…

I checked this new concept out only a month back.. and I think the execution was too good considering the kind of service Indian Railways has traditionally been renowned for…They had News, with too much Business(considering the larger interests of the travellers), they had comedy serials.. the latest string of Reality Shows, Music Videos.. a nice package overall… There were too many advertisements and I think a movie or 2 could have made it a lot more pleasurable.. but its really appreciative for a start..

The departure timing had made a nightout the only way of ensuring I board the train on time… moreover.. air conditioned journeys are designed exclusively for sleepin.. not here.. A poke.. A hit.. A whishper.. A loud shout.. the stewards tried out all sorts of methods to wake me up every time I dozed off and ensured I was munchin somethin or the other all the time… So much that had I not completed a hasty Lunch (and threw away half of it), I would still have been onto it entering the Ahmedabad Station…

Luxury… Eccentricity…

Heights of Advertising

They said the advertising department all over the world had attained saturation… and nothin more than the presently employed modes could be thought of… death of creativity huh.. this is what some crazy minds came up with :