Had a pretty relaxing weekend this. Some of our close relations from the US had come down, and it was nice meeting them after a long time. Unlike friends, sometimes you take your relatives for granted and may not make an effort to keep in touch with them, knowing fully well that there is always a function / event / ceremony round the corner for all of you to meet up. But then, you find it equally difficult to connect with them during those times, just because there is hardly any common ground. Beyond the initial pleasantries, all you end up talking about is current affairs, weather, traffic. The rest of the conversation that happens between older folks involves talking about people that you may never have heard about, nor you are particularly interested in knowing about! Plus with your cousins (and again it depends upon how close you are to them…but still), its rare that you would open up to them in the same way as you do with your close buddies.
Started re-reading this book that I have called ‘The Long Tail’ by Chris Anderson. I first read this book sometime a couple of years back and it gave a whole lot of crazy ideas to that entreprenuerial bug in me. I ended up interacting with a couple of my alumni (some well known names) and sharing my ideas with them. But then, beyond the ideation stage, i really didnt take it anywhere. Reason being that I myself was not fully confident about my ideas. As soon as I was shown possible ‘loopholes’, my interest started dwindling. I spoke about this to people and got mixed feedback. Some said you shouldnt give up too early, while others said that its good that you are not emotionally attached to your ideas and are open to different perspectives on it. Sometime back I had blogged about entrerprenuership and concluded that its really about passion rather than just an idea, whr the chances of success for an entreprenuer are high.
Anyway, coming back to the book – The theme is that basically we are moving away from a culture of ‘hits’ or ‘blockbusters’ to a time where ‘non-hits’ or ‘niches’ are also equally, if not more, important. This is what the author refers to as the Long Tail – and applicable in multiple places, especially stuff that can be digitized & distributed easily. Highly recommended reading to anyone – buy a copy today, its one of those collectibles you should have on your shelf.
Also saw the movie Dostana. I was so glad that I didnt insist that my friends should see it. Though i found the movie to be good tp, i knew that they would have cursed me no end, had i forced them along. Of the three blokes (Abhishek, John, Bobby) – Abhishek is the pick of the lot as far as acting skills go & Priyanka looks a million bucks alright. The Priyanka – Bobby getting together is not very convincing at all, KJo certainly needed a better star or actor to do that bit – and it needed to be a well etched character for the audience to think she ends up with the right guy, instead they ended up portraying him as the daddy of a 5 yr old whose wife left him, and with hardly any physical or intellectual appeal! I loved the part where Abhishek gifts her a book with their pics, and as they browse through it together, he ends up saying that the best moment is not in there …because the best moment is now, and ends up taking a polaroid of them and giving it to Priyanka. That’s a potentially reusable scene sometime in life! 🙂
Finally ended up watching our 11 men in blue beat England once again! MSD is on a roll, and there is this rare combination of style & substance in that man that makes him the effective leader that he is perceived to be. The match today brought back memories of 20-20, and with the Champions league 20-20 around the corner – it was a good appetizer for sure!
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