Thursday, November 24, 2005

Good old Harry potter... but where are the other fairy tales?

Preethi & others join at the canteen for a snack at tea time.

Preethi: "Hey mark, you seem tired! What happened. Was your class really that boring in the morning session"

mark: "Not actually, I didn't sleep much yesterday night. Went for a movie... night show"

manoj: "What movie was it?"

Preethi quickly: "Night show... and you watch only english movies... don't tell me you went to Harry potter and the bloglet of fire... that's the one running in the cinema close to your hostel."

"That's no bloglet.... GOBLET" quips mark quite irritated at the wrong name. (Mark gets irritated at every wrong or bad usage of english.. he is our peter in the gang)

jas: "How was it... I heard this one has more graphics and a not so childish tone, compared to the other harry potter movies"

mark: "yea, it was ok.. but i am not any potter fan.. some guys pulled me to go with them.. "

Preethi: "and sooo you were a group of guys who went for this movie... but all the time you guys keep talking as if its very childish to go to harry potter movies.. and only girls would do that"

Mano and Raj smile agreeably at Preethi for that...

manoj: "But may be there's nothing so childish watching a harry potter movie.. Worldwide all the harry potter stuff is proven to be a big hit. If it were very childish i dont think it would have got to become that popular. Think about our old cindrella stories, egyptian mummy stories, snow white.. where have they gone these days... they still are only in books.."

raj: "Who says that.. all these stories have also been movies.. but not the 1hr 50 min stuff of course.. because they are short stories for children ... best called fairy tales.

Children only like those stories.. because they are easy to understand.. do you think children at the age of 5 -15 go to harry potter movies because they follow the full story.. i dont think so. they must be liking the graphics, the school of magic that makes the story of the film.. and all that.

Preethi: "No raj, i have seen small kids discussing harry potter stories. my niece who is just 8 years old catches up with all the harry potter books as soon as they are released, and her mom says the girl wants to know as much of the story as she could read to tell her friends at school the next day. I think with harry potter, they are really going with the story.. "

jas: "For me.. i feel this harry potter stuff is catching on because its been some time since there were popular stories on witchcraft, magic or fairy tales.. "

manoj: "Also these days, they make the movie version of such stories once the book has completed taking its due popularity. That allows for tempting a reader to see how the story comes alive in a movie... its a good feeling to see things that you read as fancy stuff in books. This happened with lord of the rings also not just harry potter"

jas: "That should be a great marketing mantra of these days... cross promoting and selling the book and the movie.... somebody wants to read the book because the movie was interesting, and somebody wants to see the movie after since the book was interesting.

"But the sad thing is... i wonder.. all those fairy tales that mano was saying really has been forgotten now.. and kids of today probably dont know who is cindrella, or snow white."

Preethi: "True... my niece doesn't know cindrella or snow white and all. ... she doesnt like those small illustrated story books also.. she likes barbie, harry potter.. .. also she likes spiderman and batman only in the movies. She says cartoons are good on TV or movies.. and on books its not interesting. Perceptions have probably changed these days. "

mark: "Don't worry.. with the way these things are catching up... digital movies are great these days... they will make cindrella and snow white also one day with newer additions to the actual old story like it happened in the batman and spiderman movies. And when it comes to cartoons... I just loved that one.. Finding nemo, by pixar Films"

raj: "Yes, that was a very good movie.. with that kind of expressions in the characters of a full graphic film... you would not be any interested if 'Finding nemo' comes in a book.. Pixar also made the next one 'Incredibles' just as entertaining. But, like you(looking at Mark) I also dont have a liking for harry potter movies.. i haven't read the book version of it though.

"But things do look different like Preethi and Jas pointed.. probably perceptions and likings have changed.. and probably the marketing mantra is tempting the changes"

Monday, November 21, 2005

French Riots ...ended

manoj: "Hey, the recent French riots.. I heard its over!!".

raj: "Yes. Fortunately for the french, it ended. I always assumed Europe to be the only continent less into wars/fighting compared to all others... ofcourse excluding the extremes like antartica. But what happened in france with these riots, and some news websites pondering whether it was Jihad, beats the idea of Europe I had in mind".

preeth: "what's it all about.. Why did the riots happen?"

raj: "Like US, UK, France also attracts many foreign students and a lot of immigrants. Having been all the time in India, actually we guys dont understand immigration and its pros or cons much.. because india's immigrants to natives ratio is very very low.. in countries like france its close to 10% of the population. To give us an idea, that means 1 out of 10 people living in france.. is a foreigner.

"Also, greater than 5 million people are muslims in france. Europe and the west has always worried about france and turkey, for their considerably high muslim population in that half of the world.

"That's a considerable alien population to deal with for the french natives, and there are problems of discrimination. You should have heard about protests by immigrants now and then. And you should heard of this... france has a ruling in its constitution that no student would be allowed into colleges if he/she wears a muslim purdah, or a sikh turban".

jas: "Yes, something like our dress code here.. that we are protesting".

"Ah! this dress code we have is nothing.. its obvious.. here we are only being asked to come to college like a proffessional and especially girls not wear something to brand themself 'hot'", says mark looking at preethi's reaction.

"preethi responds angrily, "mark, stop that.. we girls dont wear for becoming 'hot'. you nuts only put your imagination skills to such use rather than studies".

"Now, now.. this is not about it.. stop any fight there", points raj calmly.

raj: "The french ruling on banning the purdah and turban created a wave of protests from muslims and sikh immigrants from India. All said, the ruling still holds.. but I am not sure whether the students are allowed into colleges with turbans, or, is their some kind of warm up time given till the ruling is enforced strictly.

"Now, the recent riots were organized by immigrants, most of them protesting were young men, who feel the french society neglects immigrants in many ways... There are unemployment problems, accomodation problems, racial discrimination, police harrasement, ... and all things that the french natives discriminate immigrants for.

"These riots have happened earlier when discrimination leads to some accident or creates disturbing issues. This time they say the riots would have ended earlier but for the electrocution deaths of two teenagers of African background hiding from police in an electrical sub-station. Then it sparked and became a more serious issue. Its also said that in one night on November 6th around 1400 vehicles were burnt and destroyed.. and since then the government declared a state of emergency.

"The interior minister of france even said that he has never in his life known of such three weeks of such extreme tension. The minister still said that he acknowledged the issues raised by the rioters on discrimination, but he was not happy with the way they are protesting by damaging vehicles and bringing normal life in danger".

"Now the riots have subsided, and the french government has promised addressing the issues raised".

Friday, November 18, 2005

What language is hot?

"Hey guys I have an interesting question for you all... it was hot debate for the day at class.. and i think it will be hot to discuss. Let us see what you have got!", challenged Mark, energizing the group with all that air for a discussion.

"Is it.. what where you compsci guys the great debating on?", asks Preethi in a ignorant tone to tease Mark.

Mark: "What language is hot in the world according to you? .. and Why? That is the topic. Let's hear. Hey Preethi what do you think is the hottest language".

Jas: "Arre yaar... obviously its Hindi. The intellectuals language. Isme puchne ki kya bath hai (what's there to ask)"

Raj: "I think its French. Its the only language I have known, which is spread over continents and countries, even if no french speaking people migrated into some countries. I mean, generally people take to a language only after people speaking that language migrate into their habitat and encourage interest".

"Take English for instance. The english ruled and lived in many parts of the world in the 19th century, then, people started learning english from them and speak the language in all these countries. Probably the language has not much penetration into places like Japan, Russia, France, because english didn't rule these countries."

Preeth: "haan Raj that reminds me... what's that butler english. I have heard people say things like "that guy speaks butler english".

Raj: "Butler english is just bad english.. real bad .. which doesnt make much of a complete sentence. Sometimes people like cab drivers in our cities, who dont know english, try to speak the language to try attract foreign travellers to take their cab. This english they speak will be very broken and is to only convey a message when the recipient doesn't understand any of our languages".

"But I don't know why they pulled a 'butler' for describing it.. making it look like all butlers speak bad english. Might have had something to do like that for that name 'butler english'"

Jas: "English may be popular yaar. But hindi is our national language.. how can you say something in favor of english or french without respecting our own languages".

Raj: "Jas, c'mon! language is a way to communicate.. Look at it this way. dont talk politics by saying i don't respect our languages.. and speaking english or french is unpatriotic".

Jas: "If we don't speak our language, who will.. and how do you think our languages will survive in the future. These days even mothers talk to their new born kids in english. Speaking english is considered the most educated thing to do, and sometimes a status symbol with our people".

"Whatever said, mother tongue is our language.. and not speaking it is kind of unpatriotic to me. Also, its scientifically researched and proved that one is at ease understanding things spoken in their mother tongue rather than a foreign language.. because the brain processes more to understand the foreign language, one has to concentrate more and be attentive when listening to a foreign language speaker, process the accent / style in the language etc., "

"I think the best way to communicate and deal with languages is to strictly use your national languages, and even commit businesses to use the national languages like in Japan, China, Russia, etc., "

Mark: "Yea, people in Japan, China and all have their national language as the business language, and even software operating systems like Microsoft Windows packages a special Japenese or Chinese version for these countries. Also, for studying in countries like Germany or Russia, you first will have to be through a course in German or Russian".

Raj: "True.. we can keep arguing.. but in my opinion the choice of a language should be left with the people rather than forcing it to keep the language alive. There should be many other interesting ways to make the language alive and interesting.. rather than forcing people to use it".

Manoj: "I also agree with Raj that languages are communication means and not to be made an issue to face. But Jas's argument is also correct in a way, that people take up to foreign languages more often for showing off or in expectation of career benefits that their knowledge with foreign languages can bring".

"But Jas isn't this number of people who take to foreign languages for a show or career benefits very low.. Why should a country try to be afraid of losing popularity to a foreign language and force the national language.. look at the efforts in customizing software for chinese, japanese, and then for english, and come to india we have almost 1800 languages. Forcing national languages for business would in turn deprive the businesses of practical advantages with using a more widespread language like english".

Preeth: "Yea, probably this is one of those things where you can't draw a line.. and have to leave it to people for sometime, and to the politicians for sometime to force national language importance against foreign languages. But, like Jas says I feel very very comfortable following my mother tongue rather than english, be it speaking, writing or listening".

"There are days I go for english films with friends, and once out of the theatre each one of us have a different version of the story in the movie. With some english films where you have to pay attention to the dialogues and screenplay, it gets confusing even if you miss something for a few seconds in the movie".

Mark: "Yea, otherwise Preethi would understand stories in movies. Ha ha ha"

Preeth: "Hey Mark I am better than you anyway with english okay."

Manoj: "Whatever said we have to give our exams in english only, and those old lecturers understand very little of our english.. pray god that they understand better... rather than us."

Everyone gets a tight laugh on that comment and disperse for the evening.

Monday, November 07, 2005

From the Royal GFN department

Mano walked up sad to the basket ball court where everyone was
already assembled for the after college chat.. and said 'Hi guys!'

Preethi hurriedly asks (in a way as to be the first one to ask), "What's up, mano, you are like you just were waken up from your sleep?". Before mano could answer, preethi fastly catches up towards mark, "What Mark you left him at class and came here early. What sleepy class was your last one?"

"I called him.. but this fellow just ignored me calling and stayed back there so long.. Probably boss is still worried about Swapna getting married... ha ha", Mark replied.

Preethi: "Haan yes. swapna came to hostel this morning with her father and gave us all invitation for her marriage. It was all looking weird, why would she get married so soon.".. still continuing non-stop... "She went all of a sudden two weeks back on leave for no reason, and today she comes and says she has been engaged.... but.. but why should mano feel bad of her marriage. Don't tell me you loved her Mano.. ha ha.. so mano is missing his heartthrob".

Mano smiles at this and gets behind preethi as she escapes him catching.

"You guys will never know what it means for swapna getting married. What will you know. This guy Mark is a nut.. he doesn't understand the deep blow this has given the prestigious computer science department", says Mano and leans head-on on the nearby tree depicting his sadness in total pre-historian way.

Jas: "Yea, I understand Mano.. I understand..", seemingly consoling, Jas continued... "but why take such a long name 'computer science department' when you are sad, ... cut it short and say 'GFN department' we will understand."

"GFN??", everyone turn towards Jas making faces of surprise except preethi.

Jas gives a scary look around not expecting so much attention at the comment.

"Is that Good for nothing department Jas... hey i guessed it.. heyyy" shouts preethi in all the excitement no less than an archimedes's Eureka.

Meanwhile Mark and Mano provide the friendly blows Jas seemingly expected ducking his head between his legs taking open cover.

...

Not seemingly content with the blows yet, Jas pulls his head out making a gesture pointing to Mark, ..says, "Make it Royal GFN department", and ducks back his head again as Mark gets very irritated now. At this Mano also joins the laugh.

Mark who has the habit of uttering now and then during conversations that his department be called Royal comps-kee department, still continues hitting Jas as everyone laughs.

Looong interval

Its long time since I posted here...

things were serious at college for jas, preet, mark, manoj and raj. Yea, they had exams ;0) he he...

probably internal exams so no vacation.. thats why we are back early.

;0) he he.. ain't my imagination working tons gr8. God bless others.