Ananth's Blog

I have reached Dublin! I am currently going through the excitement that normally accompanies getting thrown into a new place. Everything is different! Everything is new! Perhaps that's why I chose this tiny island to pass off my days as a coolie-for-hire. A chance to start on a clean slate. It is not as if I am running away from anything but once in a way there is this growing temptation to pack your whole life into 2 suitcases and hit the road. Or perhaps maybe I expect the new country will excite me enough. But i think it is mostly the Anonymity which I longed for. Much like Veera  when she tells her strait-laced fiancé "Let's run away". When i decided to come back to the industry, I was super-scared that i just would not have the fire in the belly to get anything done in a corporate environment. My experiences in Seattle looked like a lifetime of dreary ennui. But in some ways I feel I have made my peace with this world - material et all. God, I am even fin...

Recently, I have been following Space exploration with some kind of awkward enthusiasm. Reason for the enthusiasm is because I was deeply moved by the movie "Interstellar". Reason for the awkwardness will be dealt with in another blog post. It is not often that you watch a movie which makes you groping in the dark uncharted spaces of your mind. Watching Interstellar filled me with deep wonder about the nature of the universe and such. The closest experience similar to this is perhaps the movie "The Matrix". It is not just the experience of watching the movie but the after taste keeps you ruminating on the many questions that gets explored during the movie. Christopher Nolan is a genius. He is a master of creating a world. And when you play god and create worlds of your own, you cannot help painting the world with your own ideologies. These prejudices are so clever because they are so subtle. One specific idea that I found fascinating is Nolan's idea of wha...

There was a time when Hindustan Unilever used to take over YouTube and force everyone to watch this video..What this video is telling is for you to get knocked-up, have lots of children so that Unilever can stay in Business. Marketing is a dirty business. Convincing people to buy something that they might not need is not necessarily a vocation. However when you think you can be one step ahead of the audience and outsmart them is a little unnerving. Somehow i could never get convinced of Unilever's Project Sunshine ads. It smacks of self-reverential goodness. It is like you show cute cats, cuter puppies and then show your product in the hope that people will buy it. It insults one's intelligence. Sorry maybe i am just cynical but Project Sunlight's #brightfuture just does not cut it. #AdsThatSuck

Selling sugared water does not sounds like a great call-to-arms. But this ad is really good. It is funny. It is cunning. It is pragmatic. One heck of a brand-recall. The best part of the ad is where Aamir dances to the pahadi remix of the jingle "Thanda matlab Coca-Cola". The ad oozes out authentic Indianess which is something Coca-Cola really wanted: Making Coke into an Indian brand. #AdsThatRock

You are my baby sister that I never had. You are my daughter that I will never father.. You are my mother that I had lost forever… Let the throes of my folly remind.. Let the rapture of your embrace sustain… The scheming vagabond that I am, For all my incessant intellection, You are the perfect foil…                      The cool breeze that sweetens the long toil.               How did you smite me? I know not. The unruly curls of your tresses – a part of your plot? What happens now… Now that I have decided to partake in this little game? Your bewitching mane.. Will I ever tame? How long will I be absorbed in the uncharted crevices of your body? Comfortably numb, Will I fall on my face? Let the throes of my folly remind..        ...

Original Painting done by Megan Duncanson A Tree across the window. Thoughtless Death on the pillow.. A Week later… Is it the same tree across the window? Strange dreams cooked up over the same pillow? Cold Winter Sunshine on the glass pane Tries to cool my Fevered Flesh All in Vain. P.S: Feels weird that I want to thank someone for turning my world upside down.... Hmm... Ok. Thanks!. :)

I am generally not a big fan of Javed Akhtar. (Especially after his unwarranted show of  pigheadedness during a discussion with Sadhguru). But I think he nailed it when he wrote those poems for  Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara . This particular one resonated with me for obvious reasons that I was feeling very very lonely during this Diwali. The moment seems to flow like a molten sapphire and there’s deep blue silence, Neither there is earth below, nor sky above, The rustling branches, leaves are saying that only you are here, Only me, my breath and my heartbeat,  Such deepness, such loneliness and me…only me, It all makes me believe in my existence.   It is indeed embarrassing to admit that in this world full of life and color, one does indeed feel lonely. That one has the need to seek the comfort and solace of somebody whom you can call your own. Sometimes seething misguided anger ensues. I have been struggling with this for some time now because I ...