Reflections

The King is back! And he is back with a real big Bang... after a long time, SRK is back to his best... what a movie! Stunning! Superlative stuff! Welcome back, Shahrukh Khan ... after a long series of movies that failed to impress me - good to see the old SRK we all 40-somethings grew up with! Fantastic movie! This movie was a long time coming; you made us wait one hell of a long time; but when you returned – you did so with supreme panache, classy attitude, letting no one forget that there is only one Big Boss of Hindi Movies – and that is the one and only Shahrukh Khan! Raees The Movie - FB : Raees The Film Make no mistake – Raees is Shahrukh Khan from the first scene to the last, this is his return as far as I am concerned; the ultimate entertainer, the showman of the 90s and 00s is back again after a long hiatus! This is the Shahrukh Khan we all loved to watch in college and our 20s  … the King, the Boss, the one with the attitude and screen presence to beat a...

ENTER PROTECTIONISM! Worldwide, the rise of so-called nascent protectionist tendencies has seen increasing focus in pink as well as white media; this is almost the flavor of the season. I don’t blame the media – the hyperbole emanating from society, social media as well as the political sphere justifies the focus on this theme. And so long as this focus causes an informed dialogue around this theme, it is a welcome development. We need a serious, informed debate in all Media around this tendency, or perceived tendency. I say perceived tendency; this may sound counter-factual. But stop a minute, and think through – is it really counter-factual? I am not denying the trendlines increasingly visible the world over; all I am asking is to abandon hyperbole, and focus on the facts. Isnt it a fact, for us developing nations in general – and India in particular {given I am an Indian} – that protectionism emanating from the Western economies has always been the exception rather than th...

SARASWATI’S INTELLIGENCE Part 1 of the Kishkindha Chronicles Author – Vamsee Juluri A Word About The Publisher This book is published by Westland Books, to whose products I was first exposed to 2-3 years ago; since then, I have been noting the consistently high quality of their products – both in terms of variety, content as well as external finishing. They have branded themselves through unmatched quality, and attained a level of performance and  a place for themselves in this highly competitive industry. Yet again, we get treated to an excellent book; keep up the good work, Team Westland! THE PLOT The book is a work of fiction;  a very interesting, fascinating re-telling of a part of The Ramayan : The Story {fictionalized} of Lord Hanuman. This is the first part of a series; a series which focuses on Lord Hanuman { or someone so closely resembling Hanuman that there can be no doubt who the author is referring to }. This is an important distinction to make –...

Recently, we saw a very interesting, and for Smartphone and Telecom trade pundits and employees, monumental occurring – a recent report of marketshare showing that the top 5 brands in the Indian Smartphone market are not Indian. On top of this is a constant lament by Media and Telecomists {to coin a new term} alike, that Indian Handsets Brands are not making it; that Indian  manufacturing is not picking up in this industry. Let us try and place things in perspective first, before we try and understand what can be done to improve the situation; or, indeed, whether it can be improved. In this article, I focus only on the perspective, and an overall market analysis of the two markets in general terms as well as specifically Teleocm / Device terms. After that perspective, I then introduce the basics of the competitive scenario. The reason for that is you need to understand the two markets and their difference to make a meaningful comparison, as well as figure out the way forward....

BOOK REVIEW : A VEGETARIAN LIFESTYLE A Presentation by Beauty Without Cruelty NOTE from Website : Moreover, there was no point in BWC approaching food manufacturers to fill questionnaires up, because in 2001 the Government of India made it mandatory for all packaged foods to carry the veg/non-veg symbol . Some years later these labels began being affixed by manufacturers on all beverages like carbonated waters. Then in 2014, BWC’s persistent efforts bore fruit, when the new Prime Minister, in response to our   request, extended the veg/non-veg labelling law to cover cosmetics, soaps, shampoos, toothpastes and toiletries. This current guide being reviewed is an old one I found in my family The title of the book almost says it all; this is a book that is entirely focused around being a Vegetarian; though its primary focus is on Veganism, you can easily find Vegetarianism also in its pages. For the uninitiated, Vegan people don’t take anything associated ...