Vikram Dhunta

Three years ago call centres were very much at the heart of things. Now real decisions are being taken in Bangalore and higher-value-added work is being done here.

From the Economist's Upbeat in Udaipur.

Labels: india, news

Posted by Vikram at 7:47 AM | Permalink | Comments
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Manu Sharma Convicted?

...if the ruling has come after so long with such hopeless disappointments as Munshi, sting operations with witnesses claiming to having been bribed by the defense, the father enjoying his public post for long since the incident, a famous (and respected) lawyer defending the guilty vociferously, or worst of all, the victim's family dying without justice one by one... one wonders whether this really *is* a landmark case, or a singularity marked only by extraordinary public and media pressure? Does it really indicate a change in the way the judiciary operates? Is it really true, going forward, that ordinary people can hope for quicker justice irrespective of how many limestone factories the defendent's father owns?

Looking at the bright side, NDTV and Tehelka did a great job, while the victim's sister, Sabrina courageously led the crusade through to its end.

Labels: india, news

Posted by Vikram at 6:33 PM | Permalink | Comments
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An Indian sprinter has failed a gender test, after winning the silver at the recent Asian games.

Labels: india, news

Posted by Vikram at 6:27 PM | Permalink | Comments
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Busy saturday since I have a lot of work from office to do this week. Anyway we decide to catch National Lampoon's Van Wilder: Rise of the Taj for a break. From the promos we were quite excited to see what the movie was about (what with the Indian lead etc).

Unfortunately the movie didn't have much of a beginning, which was followed by a lack of buildup to any story ending with a childish fight between the protagonist and his nemesis. The movie was a low budget not-too-much-effort venture that showed. The script was amateurish barring a couple of good jokes. It was, in fact, another one of those cheesy 80s movie where ostracised nerds in a school make a new fraternity and beat the pompous top frat. I thought they stopped making movies like these back in the 80s!

Anyway, we got home and lo behold! The original Van Wilder 1 was on TV. Now this movie was so much better, despite being yet another campus comedy. Anyway, imdb.com revealed that the new Van Wilder was so bad that MGM didn't even do a press conference for it. Low point for Kal Penn after a good small role in Superman Returns?

Labels: general, india, usa

Posted by Vikram at 7:21 AM | Permalink | Comments
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Remember (does it still air?) the AIR FM jingle by Shibani Kashyap that was their trademark jingle for so long? It was better than most other FM channel jingles by far, and conspicously better than any other AIR attempts at making jingles (hear the AIR FM Rainbow jingle if you want this proven). You would hear it in the bus, in your room, on the roadside, in a hotel whereever and instantly recognize the all new FM channel that had so much more to offer than drab ole FM.

Unfortunately, turns out this jingle was a copy. That superb chorus 'A Aye Awwrrr Eff Emm Radio-o" is actually a direct lift from a song "Listen to the music" by the Doobie Brothers. Aint' it sad?

There's nothing worse for a music lover fanatic to discover that one of his 'all time favourites' is a straight liftoff of a song from another place/era/genre. Just like when I realized that the old Shammi classic 'Dil use do jo pyaar de de...' is inspired by 'With a little help from my friends' by the Beatles, just as "Chura Liya" is a redux of a film theme.

Here's a great site dedicated to plagiarism in bollywood.

Labels: bollywood, india, personal

Posted by Vikram at 7:52 AM | Permalink | Comments
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When I arrived at Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi last month for my flight to this place, I was there 3 hours before the departure. In fact the baggage screening was happening right at the entry gate to the building and the queue was outside the door! After 45 mins in that line, there was the >1 hour queue at the checkin (at the Business counter!), another 45 mins at the personnel security and then the waiting for departure inside.

Why do we need so much more time when other airports go with just 2 hours?

(Hooray for guitars for ye are not bothered by linear inch restrictions!)

Labels: general, india

Posted by Vikram at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments
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Sania Mirza beat Martina Hingis in a 4-6 6-0 6-4 emphatic win after the latter had just beaten her a week ago at the Sunfeast open. Sania says she was probably 'third time lucky' having met Martina twice before, while Hingis is impressed with Sania's forehand.

Aight, so who bags another 1.5 crore endorsement? Just kidding, way to go! Though seriously Sania, focus on y our game and get back into the habit of winning. Break that Rank 3o ceiling this year!

Labels: general, india

Posted by Vikram at 8:42 AM | Permalink | Comments
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In my three weeks here in the US, I've seen three references to India in the news media:
1) about a man who can swallow upto 12 swords at a time
2) about a weird dance that a tribe does during this time of the year up north
3) about India and Pakistan agreeing to continue peace talks post the Mumbai blasts.

No Manmohan, no Sonia, no Delhi, no Malegaon, no Software, no IT, no Bangalore or Hyderabad or Silicon Valley or anything.

If there ever was any illusion of India being on the radar of the US media for any reason whatsoever, it's been shattered. I don't intend to sound like I'm hurt that the 'American's' pay no attention to India. It's just that the amount and nature of coverage that India gets in the media here, certainly won't help the regular American citizen upgrade his image of India from 'a nation of snake-charmers' to 'the backoffice of the world' or 'the IT powerhouse of Asia' or any such thing.

Maybe that's all a good sign though - not being in the news since every news item these days has to do with terrorists/the UN convention or kidnapped babies more or less.

Labels: india, news, usa

Posted by Vikram at 5:02 PM | Permalink | Comments
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