I am in wrong company

                                                               Today i met my friend . I was gifted a box of foreign chocolates , a box of plum cake and it was not my birthday  .  A few months back i was gifted a shirt by a leading brand  .  Then also it was not  my birthday  .  And knowing this person very well i know that the gifts are an extension of affection . I have numerous friends and most of them are not this "gifty "  .  We live in a highly "non -materialistic world "  (  intentently sarcastic comment  )  so  my friend as well as myself are a rarity  and we are  " materialistic"  giving and expecting gifts  ...

Before considering us as freaks of nature consider a few more freaks too   ... Last month i was in my uncles home ( a great gifter himself  )  .  Suddenly there was a boy standing outside with a large packet  and a smile . Their neighbour had just returned from gulf country and the neighbours son was giving us the gift they had brought from gulf to my uncle and family . Opened the packet it contained foreign chocolates and out came some creams , some branded perfumes even a Mont Blanc pen (whew...)  Is this what they call love your neighbour like your brother  ?  Next day even more "shocking " news . This neighbour had gifted some other neighbours and even the fisherman ( whom they knew well ) a gift (not Mont Blanc pen )  . I asked whether the neighbour was visiting india back first time . Aunt told that whenever they come from abroad they bring gifts to many  .

My non -earning favourite cousin out of his pocket money once gifted me a parker pen .  (again not on a birthday or special occasion )  . It was just out of affection and he could spare some money out of his pocket money  .

Why i am writing this blog is because of two reasons  :
1 These days i am not seeing that much gift bringing by foreign returnees  . Is it the recession or has cost of perfumes gone up drastically  (  I am sarcastically materialistic here )

2.  Because the friend was asked by me not to gift me too much  . For because of gifting though i know very much is due to affection i find the difference too stark . Affection should be in  mind only . It should not be expressed in gifts and even if you are should buy the cheapest or duplicate ones so that hard earned money is saved  .

                                    Lastly  i am a highly materialistic person ... Because i am one of the persons who came half (yes exactly half no exaggeration ) of my suitcase filled with chocolates for others when i visited from gulf  . So for the rare few who continue showing part of your affection through gifting  please continue to do so  but realise that you are a dying breed  ...

movie review tamil kadal by mani ratnam

                                                        When my cousin told that she couldnt get the tickets for the malayalam movie and got tickets for a tamil movie  to tell frankly  i told Oh God .  Not that i dont like tamil  movies and the pretty heroines dancing and thin heroes(some of them ) bashing up guys three times their size  . But i cant watch it for 2 hours  ...

Few spoilers ahead  .....and little graphic  (you are warned )

The film starts with a man on a rainy day visiting a prostitute in a fishing village  .  He tells her kid to go out and the boy is standing in the rain  .  Within minutes the man comes out and tells the boy her son --"Look, she has been dead for hours"  .  The boy crying when she is not taken to be buried in the churchyard  (  still indecent people have  no place in the churchyard  )  and she is buried by the sea  by a group of drunk gravediggers and when her leg sticks out one of them breaks it and puts ir into the makeshift coffin  .

Two random thoughts  .....Can this scene happen in real life to some child   ?   Yes , it can  ...Because even prostitutes frequently give birth

Who has taken this serious movie?   ( movies are supposed to make you laugh , oogle at pretty women etc  )..   Any third rate director  ???  Or a sleepy award winning director  ?? Its none other than our  dear Manirathnam Sir who needs no introduction and most importantly knows how to take good commercial cinemas with value  .

Dont get me wrong by this first scene the movie has all the elements of commercial cinema even has two three beautiful nicely choreographed dance sequences , a nice romance (with pretty girl included )  and even beautiful music score by A R Rahman  . The story is good a different theme though based on the classic good vs evil theme but a really different way of presentation .

The cinematography is superb and the backdrop is the beautiful Andaman and Nicobar islands  .  Our Roja Arvind Swami is back in action with a great role and he has acted really well . So is the villain Arjun .

When we parked our car for first time in my life  the parking lot was empty  . I thought we were very early .  When we went out it was near empty  .  The "thara ticket " i mean the non -balcony seats were near empty too  . I agree this was a commercial cinema with a serious theme . But considering the "intellectual " malayali movie goer i take it that the movie goers standards have decreased  .  Because i dont think it deserves the kind of reception that it received .

This is one movie i liked because it is really deep (just like the name suggests )  . If you like serious cinema watch it  ...Kadal (tamil )  by Maniratnam

Koodevide movie and some little thoughts

                                                                            If you have a loving heart and you like movies  one movie you shouldnt miss is Padmarajans film Koodevide .Is it  the picturesque Ootty the hillstation , the haunting  musical background (Padmarajan specialty ) or the natural acting of Suhasini, Mammootty or Rahman  that captivated me  and made this one of my favourite movies of all time ?  No , it was the theme of the movie ..Love  .. Not the romantic love which is seen in so many movies but the pure love between a teacher and a student transcending the boundaries of teacher-student relationship .  Those who have experienced love in its myriad forms know what i am talking about . Its about the motherly love between a lady teacher (Suhasini ) and the teenager boy (Rahman) .

Whenever we talk about love we think about the love between close relations  --the blood relatives . Or the love ---between non-blood which falls into the realm of romantic love . Of course the third one is close friendship . But there is a fourth category --motherly,fatherly,sisterly affection between two people .  Just like the joy of eating chocolate cannot be explained in words this fourth type of love should be experienced to be appreciated . For how else can you explain a relationship with a person who is not your blood and sometimes not even of the same religion where the feelings and affection conveyed are indistinguishable from motherly or sisterly affection . And what if that affection exceeds the love of actual biological mother or sister?

Can a teacher love her student like a son especially if they are of opposite gender ? Its possible .  Can a beautiful unwed lady love a non related kid like a mother ? Its possible ..Think about our very own Miss World Sushmita Sen who has adopted a kid . And what when a friend shows such strong affection and concern for you like a sister ?  What should you call her --- a friend or a sister  ?

sick wife or customer ? Whom to choose

Whenever i drive my maruti swift (I love marutis anyday ) i remember the salesperson who sold us the vehicle .  Being in the company which sells the largest number of cars in india it was surprising to see the level of patience he showed in explaining everything and not trying to "hard sell "  any particular model or variant of the maruti car . And the most amazing part was on the day of delivery of the car this man was with us with a smile but one which hid sadness . My father who is as quick as me in sensing this feeling asked him what was bothering him . He didnt answer initially but on further prodding he told his wife has just returned from hospital the previous day  .  Considering his reluctance to leave us "the customer " we told him clearly please proceed to his sick wife as we are very happy with his service and dont need him at the showroom at that time (it was 9 pm  :  it was the march price changing time for cars and there were extra workload on the staff )  .  Before leaving he delegated his work to his coworker and the coworker also did an excellent job of explaining all the details .

Yes it was the first time i had a salesperson going to this extent but through my 10 + years of being a maruti customer (maruti 800  ---maruti zen  ---maruti swift )  i can vouch that i am 10/10 satisfied with maruti sales and service  .  (  I am not in car sales , so you can trust me  :) )  ..  This same level of customer is the king attitude was seen not only in trivandrum ,kerala but even when i had a maruti zen in mumbai . Being one of the most busy cities in the world even there  whenever i visited maruti in between my busy schedule the maruti employee was there treating you as if you had bought a Rolls Royce  .  Not only the product but i think this customer service is the very reason their cars are selling like hotcakes inspite of stiff competition from other carmakers  .

I gave the maruti example because  looking around you we find customer service is one thing where many big companies lack  . These days "Customer is the king " attitude is told everywhere and countless management textbooks have been written on this topic .  But  its not rocket science to understand that in sales it is one of the key parameter which attracts and retains the consumer . Also the implementation of it is fairly simple ...Just have a genuine interest in the customer you are serving and realise that  however big you or your company is without him (the customer )  tomorrow you may not exist . For without sales and income from operations there is no "sales-person "  .

Regarding misselling and hardselling by some unscruplous salespersons i will be writing a separate blog . Meanwhile lets appreciate the good companies which value their customers and the brand ambassadors of these companies--- " the honest , hardworking ,customerfriendly " salespersons . They are not a majority these days but i am optimistic that the customerfriendly ones will increase in number because the market and consumer will ultimately reward the good ones ...Yes i bought a maruti instead of Rolls Royce because of better customer service :):)  (pls believe me )