Operation Citizen Alert

The more i hear about Mumbai, the more i'm impressed by the city. Operation Citizen Alert (OCA)comes as yet another reinforcement of my belief that Mumbai is one professional citzenry. OCA is an ad campaign brought out by Grey on behalf of the Mumbai Railway Police. As part of the campaign 1 Rupee coins are left randomly at public places such that they catch the eye of passing people. When picked up the coins will be found to have a sticker on them which would read

"If you are as alert to unattended baggage, lives can be saved".

This is a brilliant campaign. The message really hits one, as he/she is caught in the act. With the only requirement being Re 1 coins and stickers, this is easily one of the most cost-effective campaigns in a long long time. Moreover, Grey worldwide has reportedly donated the coins for this campaign.

The RBI deemed it "a contempt of currency" reportedly, but this response does raise a valid question. Should this campaign be seen as a defilement of the 1 Re coin? Personally, I don't think so. As a one off campaign, there shouldn't be any concerns. But it would be a different story if the multitude of advertisers take this cue and bring out similar campaigns. Its probably in anticipation of that, this reaction from the RBI

To come back to where i started, i am really impressed by the modern outlook of the Mumbai Railway Police. It is very rare to see such innovative campaigns associated with the public sector.

I've heard so much good about the people of Mumbai...the 6 sigma certified dabbawallahs...to the minute precise local trains....no nonsense professionalism of the public....the undying spirit demonstrated through the flood and blasts....Great city!!

Rocky Balboa ( Rocky VI)

Rocky VI is slated to release in the third week of December '06. The sixth edition of this blockbuster series comes as a very pleasant surprise. That Sylvester Stallone plays the lead in the movie might raise eyebrows, but the movie trailor will convincingly dispel all doubts. He looks as fit as ever and age seems to have added an aura to his personality.

As far as the story goes, Rocky Balboa, is leading a peaceful retired life running a deli in his native, Philadelhpia. The love for boxing ceases to leave and he is drawn out of retirement by a one match challenge with the current world champion. Its the typical Rocky theme, but what is interesting here is that Rocky Balboa is an old man. At 50 odd years, what's in favour of him is his experience and his trademark "undying spirit" that made him what he is - the champion. How he works that to his advantage or if he does at all, will be soul of the movie.

Stallone writes the script and does the Direction too for this sequel. Reviews from a premiere held 2 months back, suggest two moving speeches by Rocky during the course of the movie. I don't know much about the new soundtrack, but the old one is still there and that in itself is more than enough. "Eye of the Tiger" is one helluva song

This is one movie I'm gonna lookout for!!!

oh! i'd been tagged

This tagging business never really did strike a chord with me. But a boring day at office can make a lot of unexpected things happen. Firstly i'd like some expert opinion on the previous sentence. which is the best? "never did really ", "never really did" "did never really"l..i'll spare the 3 factorial (ahem!!) combinations

What exactly brings me here now, is the fact that i had been tagged about 4 months back. This means, i now need to post on the same topic viz - a list of my hates.

For the record, i'm a very calm person. I just murder a few people now and then, when i lose it. But otherwise, yeah, i'm a saint.

My hates:

1)Fart-artists : You just can't tell them anything new. They'd invariably come out with a 'been there done that' response. Earlier i used to make it a point to crucify them. Offlate i jus let them be. After all, it takes all kinds.

2)Pedestrians in b'lore : they deem it a colossal waste of time to look both ways before crossing a road. If they're a group of friends, they'd not even hear the honks

3)tHiS sOrT oF wRiTiNg StyLE !!!

4)there is this particular flavour of ego that gets on my nerves. the afflicted, in this case, deliberately defies your suggestions as if to affirm - 'who's the boss'!! weirdos!!

5)i'm a tidyness freak. I like everything to have a place and be there when not in use. A good percentage of people aren't so.

6)i don't like this tagging business.Period

P.S If i use the word 'period' at the end of a sentence, i should ideally omit the '.' symbol. shouldn't I? should I?

Landmark Quiz '06, Bangalore

was a very neatly conducted affair. The ambience was perfect, Chowdiah Memorial hall being a very beautiful auditorium. The audience was very receptive and enthusiastic. IT was interesting to observe the mix of people. We had families with newly borns, school kids, senior citizens, corporate quizzers...an encouraging audience for any Quizmaster. Not that Derek O'brien needs any. Sometimes i wonder if he's more a quizmaster or an entertainer. After seeing him at the Brand Equity Quiz, i was a little skeptic when i came to know that he is going to be the quizmaster here too. But fortunately, his sexual innuendo's and PJ's were at a minimum y'day. Infact some of the questions in the final were pretty good too. The elims were decent at most with some outrageous questions like

Q) which is the largest milk producing country in the world?
Q) which is the Landmark site to purchase books? ( the ans was printed on the brochure given to each team + displayed on a banner extending from the ceiling to the floor on the stage...well lit stage)

Understandable coz the Landmark Quiz is primarily a school level quiz made difficult because everyone participates.

The finals, however, had some good questions and some great teams. I especially remember a guy named Anushtub (i guess) who got crowned the best quizzer in b'lore after a solitaire between the finalists. He was just too good. They however lost the lead in the last 2 questions of the quiz, to be upstaged by a team from Chennai which had earlier won the Chennai leg of this quiz. This team from Chennai did exceptionally well to tide over a solid 25 point deficit in the last round of the quiz to emerge emphatic winners. Great comeback!!

Some of the good questions...

Q) a connect question based on 2 pictures..one of Harrison Ford and the other featuring few sheep in a meadow and an android in the centre.
Ans: Bladerunner, the movie - the 2nd picture is the cover of the book " Do androids dream of electric sheep by Philip Dick" which was the inspiration for the movie Bladerunner. Harrison Ford played lead role in the movie.

Q) a connect again with a picture of dilip kumar and one of Manoj Kumar and the song "mera naam hai shabnam" being played in the background
Ans: the character played by Dilip Kumar in the movie 'Shabnam' was named Manoj Kumar and Manoj Kumar took his screen name from this movie.

Q) another connect..audio of the Star spangled banner + video of a duet dance from a movie.
Ans: Scott Fitzgerald. the star spangled banner played by Jimi Hendrix in the played piece was written by a scott fitzgerald. the video was from the movie "the great gatsby" which was written by F Scott Fitzgerald. same name, unrelated people..that was the connection. brilliantly answered by one of the teams

Q) this question is connected to a british sport and refers to the largest animal conservation efforts by a govt. the animal in question is the Harvest mice. What did they do?
Ans: they spread out thousands of broken tennis balls from wimbeldon on a ground and used them to breed harvest mice, which were becoming endangered

Q) what is the difference between sushi and sashimi?
Ans: sushi is raw fish with rice, while sashimi is raw fish alone

Q) what was carried in compartment no: 2949 of a train to triveni in india on Feb 12?
Ans...a giveway clue would be the yr..1948. answer is Mahatma Gandhi's ashes

Q) which element is responsible for blue colouration in diamonds?
Ans Boron

Q)which flower is named after a French General
Ans Bouganvilla (not sure abt the General bit and the spelling of the flower)

Q)which famous indian changed his name to Kareem Abdul
Ans Kishore Kumar after marriage to Madhubala

Q)what is Unique about a canoe race held in the Andamans by the name "asol tale aap"
Ans the only canoe race in the world on sand