Economies on Rice.

On a sultry summer evening, with the humdrum humming of the ceiling fan coping up with a low voltage, as the background score:

A live and let live policy seemed to have established itself wordlessly in the household.

Both mother and daughter are deep into their magazines, daughter curled up on a chair with a film review; mother squatting on the floor, lost in a vernacular women’s weekly.

The head of the family, reading the moods of his subjects, cautiously mutes the TV, and is mentally transported to the cricketing stadium, replete with lights, action, dancing girls, crying sportsmen, slaps and claps; but sans the sound effects.

Peace prevails.

Mother suddenly looks up from her tips-for-anything-and-everything magazine and says “You should get this special herbal rice for me, they say it is good for keeping down blood sugar levels.”

Father, his eyes still glued to a swashbuckling Dhoni, replies in all earnestness, “Oh no! If you should start consuming like this, then food prices in USA would hit the sky. Then my niece in Virginia would face the brunt. Bush was right. The Indian middle class sure has a growing appetite.”

Daughter chuckles as mother makes another entry in her growing list of unsettled scores.

The Uncommon Man

I happened to see an interview of R K Laxman on CNN-IBN, today. The wit and brilliance of his answers made it a masterpiece of a show. The interviwer , a Ms Anuradha Sengupta, was so unlike the rest of the CNN-IBN coterie. Her questions were reflective and intuitive. Moreover she seemed to be enjoying the intelligence of the legendary cartoonist. This was a follow up to the Indian of the year award function, where he was honored with a Lifetime achievement award.

Some bits that I relished (recollected from memory, may not be verbatim) :


Interviewer : Your cartoons depict corruptness of politicians, lack of implementation of schemes , traffic jams and other such decadence. Is Mr Laxman a cynical man?
R K Laxman : Yes, I am a cynical man. I was born a cynic.
Interviwer: Don’t you have any optimism?
R K Laxman : no. Optimism is believing everything will be good. It only makes things worse.
Interviwer : Do you think the media of today, the papers and the TV channels give the common man a voice?
R K Laxman.: The common man will never speak. He is not interested in being heard.



Interviwer: Mr. Laxman, in today’s world, do you see yourself as a moral crusader?
R K Laxman: No. I don’t. There is nothing to learn from my cartoons. I simply want people to see the ridiculousness of some situations.I am no moral crusader.
Interviwer: Why not?
R K Laxman : It is not my business.


Interviwer: Is Mr Laxman a difficult person to live with?
R K Laxman : Yes. I have my demands.
Interviwer: Like what? Do you need to be left alone?
R K Laxman: Yes. I like to be left undisturbed.
Interviwer: Do you give others such liberties?
R K Laxman: No. I don’t.I correct them.
Interviwer: Mr Laxman, you have double standards.
R K Laxman : Yes. I do. Its good to have double standards.


R K Laxman’s satirical sketches have always been succinct and right on target. Some of them are gems to be framed. It was a rare treat to savour a sample of the Uncommon mind behind the Common Man.


P.S : Do try to catch it, if there is a re-run, or if it is available on the web. A must watch.
P.P.S:Cross posted at the media blog.

Update: The transcript of the interview can be found here. Link courtesy : Aravindh

Lost In Translation

“Santhusht a Irukatheenga”, a smiley faced SRK ad-vises us Kuppans and Subbans of Tamil Land. This is the dubbed version of the DishTV ad on one of the Tamil channels. DishTV may not have plans to penetrate the rural veins of TN, but such an ad would plant a premature R.I.P on any possible prospects.

Ads are money. And big money at that. They provide the return on investment only if they reach the targeted audience. TN is not like other Indian states. You cannot afford to expect people to know what Santhusht is, especially when repeated in Junoon-tamil sentences. By a face alien to the masses (barring the peeps SRK made into few elitist tamil movies).

The equivalent Tamil word might destroy the lip-sync. It may even kill the cute little skewed rhyme the sathusht-dish-wish make. But retaining it would make the very first step in communication wobbly.

One can reason, that inserting incomprehensible info can create curiosity, but what the heck, even the well orchestrated “nalarai pal” and “pulli-raja” campaigns became relics way too soon in their life cycles.

When there are toddlers who can recite 1330 kurals verbatim, why do kids with tongues pasted to the roof of their mouths dub for ads? Creativity can take a backseat, but sensibilities can’t afford to. Ads as such, are an intrusion, and are more often than not used as breaks from the couch to check on the launderette or the cooking. Given the limited attention capture time, sloppiness can be a costly mistake.

As a contrast, the Tanishq ad for Diwali made one Santhusht. It had a known persona of star value, Asin, totting the jewellery for “Dhanteras”, also a concept new to tamils (the majority). It clearly conveyed the message, with Asin urging us, with flawless diction, to book in advance for the festive “Dhanteras”. I, for one, looked up for “Dhanteras” and was able to place the context.

As a check, I asked my maid, what she understood by Dhanteras. “Namma Atchaya thiruthiyai pola Deepvali ku etho podranma” (translated as “They are launching something like our Akshaya Thrithyai for this Deepavali”).

Its time ad-men paid attention to the basics.