THIS YEAR’S CARNIVAL POLARIS

Costumes, colours and fun are all seen in a Carnival and this year it will be seen at Wilson College for Polaris 2011. Polaris has adorned a variety of themes from Vintage to Darkness and this year it is Carnival. Carnival gives a variety of things to do. With over fifty five college and twenty events, Polaris is all set for 15^th, 16^th and 17^th. This is the Eleventh year of Polaris and it is set for a bash.

According to Deputy Chairperson Janice Rodrigues “Polaris will bring the Carnival to life and it will be one big Carnival”. This year competing colleges have been given a variety of carnival from all over the world. Carnival’s from Rio de Janerio to Electric Dasiy to Sital Sasti to Mardi Gras. They have to try and imitate these Carnivals and at the same time are allowed their own interpretation so that they are able to incorporate their own creative elements. A College has even asked if it could bring a ladder for Polaris.

Polaris is not only about the costumes and colours, but it is also about the celebration of the human spirit. According to Divya, the hospiatlity head, “Polaris is about the celebrating the human spirit, where people over a variety of colleges meet and discover new things”. For Aayush Puthran, the event head, “A Carnival themed Polaris will connect many people and bring out the carnival spirit, and maybe even untied all BMM students as a BMM family”. “Polaris will be an exchange of ideas and sharing a mutual bond” commented Jaydutta the Deputy Chairperson.

The platform is set and for the first time Polaris will be having a pre-Polaris Event will occur. A Parade is set to occur on 10^thJuly on Sunday. As a pre-Polaris event it is set for a big success, with every competing college coming. The Parade has already got an overwhelming response. Some College are expected to bring a number as large as 120-150 people. One College even wishes to bring a horse carriage. Aayush reacting to this overwhelming response commented, “The response just surpasses all my expectations”.

Jaydutta when asked on expectations from competing college replied, “We just want them to have fun and good completion. “We want to see crazitivity for Polaris” remarks Janice on her expectations of the competing colleges.

Also another first for this year Polaris, not only BMM students will be seen, but students across a variety of streams. This should result in bigger crowds then before. A new event added to this year is a designer and fashion event.

The students of Second Year BMM, Wilson College has prepared a spectacular Polaris. A Polaris waiting to be executed. A wait which is just a few hours away.

Purple Seven

It was in the night and I was walking briskly. I checked the time on my watch, it was almost seven. Damn, I am late. I had to reach the Charles Sports Club. This is the last and most important job. The tennis racket was slung over my back. The fences started to appear, the gate would not be far. Loud bearing rock music was playing in the night, which I suppose was coming from one of the residential buildings. I reached the gate only to be shocked. There was a huge crowd outside it and the rock music was coming from inside. There was a rock show going on inside. Still, it would be no problem, the tennis court would be in use. I pulled out my id card. I had to do what I came to do. I flashed my membership id at the entrance and walked in towards the court. It was empty. I may be able to catch him at the shower area. I moved at once. The showers were running and men were having their bath, but he was not there. Maybe I could catch him at the locker room. The locker room was very crowded, I pushed my way amoung the jostling men in towels careful not to get into a fight. I got a view of his locker for a whole minute. There was no sign of him. I watched him for days; I know his every schedule moves. My final chance would be catch him leaving in his car.

I ran out, to the parking exit and hoped I did not miss him. I was searching for a purple Honda. Nervously my eyes kept roaming everywhere. It was not long before I my eyes caught him, but he was not in his car at all. He was exiting from the main entrance. Where had he gone? It did not matter I had to get to him. He was wearing his purple suit. Where was he going? He hailed a cab and was off. I hailed a cab and jumped in, “Follow that cab ahead”. What was this guy up to? If I finished this job, I could finally go home.

The cab stopped and I paid my fare. He came to the subway station. I quickly followed him down. I had to get to him before he jumped in to the train. He moved to the restroom. I breathed a sigh of relief. I kissed the purple seven that hung around my neck. It could be done. I walked into the restroom. The dim light was hanging from the ceiling. The target could not be seen.

Suddenly I felt something hit me from behind, on my shoulder. I went crashing down. A hand swung around my throat and a blade from pressed against my neck. “Who are you? What do you want?” I heard two rapid questions fired off. I knew something was wrong about this fellow. Doesn’t matter, I just got to deliver the package. “I am nobody, but the racket on my shoulder” I said slowly, “it’s yours.” The hand slowly slid away from my neck, while the knife stayed. The racket was lifted from my shoulder. He lifted it up. I could see him smiling in the shadow, “Yes, it is mine. Thank you”. And the knife slashed against my neck. My temporary human vessel was failing me. My purple blood was flowing out. My hands grabbed my throat, but it was of no use. So this was how humans die. I was going to die, but it did not matter the job is done.

The man in the purple suit walked out cleaning his knife on his handkerchief. With the racket swung over his back he got into the train. However this man did not get out the train at all. He was searched for, but not found. In another mysterious incident in the same train a purple seven about six feet high was found.

Indira and Modi the same side of the coin

In 1971 Indira Gandhi declared emergency under the pretext of India being under threat of internal and external forces. However the actual reason was that the on the day of the declaration, the next day a court verdict was going to be announced. The verdict was on a case filed by Jayprakash Narayan on the then recent elections accusing Indira Gandhi of elections malpractices. If the verdict by the court found Indira guilty then that would mean she would be striped of her Prime Ministership, to avoid this she declared Emergency.

During the emergency there were gross violations. The press was gagged. Many political persons were arrested without being charged and tortured. There were rise in encounter cases. Journalists were persecuted. Sanjay Gandhi went wild by forcing many men to undergo vasectomy. There was a gross violation of human rights.

However the persecution for these crimes conducted by Indira Gandhi led nowhere. She successfully turned an arrest of her during the Janta Party rule into her favour. By the time Janta Party broke down she had successful converted the nation to support her. Then she died. Though the emergency is regarded as the darkest period in Indian Democracy, Indira is still regarded in high opinion because of the new heights she bought India to.

This draws on a parallel of the current Chief Minister of Gujarat Narander Modi. The main man who allowed the gross human violation to occur. The man who did not initiate the infrastructure to stop violent mobs and in doing so giving permission for mass extermination of Muslims. While ongoing investigation has given him a clean chit, many people still believe that he holds a major responsibility for the Gujarat riots.

While this goes on, a group of people have voiced out their opinions that he should be forgiven for his past crimes and the present should be looked at, where he has converted Gujarat as a model state for many.

Corruption at Corporate Level

In India we curse at the corruption in our government. However there is a corruption that is unseen and slithers around like a snake and that is of corruption at the cooperate level. It is not uncommon in India to have a company to pay the government or give ‘incentives’ to the government.

The biggest and the best example is the Bhopal gas tragedy, where many people died, injured and genetics was restructured in that area. Enron the company which was largely responsible had managed to get a safety certificate, and the results did not play up to that certificate. The CEO of Enron who should have been detained in India managed to get out with some questionable help from the Rajiv Gandhi government.

Also not spoken, but commonly known is of Reliance industries success in the early years and its dealings with the government.

However last year and this year it is all changing. The 2G scam and the Neera Radia’s case have been revolutionary in this aspect.

The 2G scam case has seen a number of industrial haunches in the cross-sights of the CBI for giving bribes to the former Telecom Minister and one can only hope that the truth will emerge.

The Neera Radia’s case has revealed a media-political and corporate nexus.

If the Company’s cannot see the trend, then they need to see it.

The people are demanding more corporate social responsibility. They don’t want the company’s to be hand in glove with a corrupt government and officials.

Tata has become an image in this case and company’s such as Reliance and such others need to change their image.

The fight against corruption is only getting stronger as we recently seen Ana Anzare’s hunger strike against corruption.

Apocalypse Now

The movie is directed by Frank Coppola

The establishing shot of the movie is awesome. It starts with the sound of a helicopter, the strumming of a guitar comes in, a jungle appears, a helicopter passes by and the jungle blows up in flames. The establishing shot is very impactful.

He uses a lot of blending and that’s how he introduces his main character. The introduction is also in a vague way because thought he show a face, the eyes, the movement of the eyes keeps the audience focused on the eyes, as destruction goes around.

The scene where Willard is given his mission also must be discussed General R. Corman - Colonel Lucas - Jerry -. At the table where the mission is discussed. No one is eating, except for the civilian, Jerry(Also this is the only time they show someone eating in the movieand that to a civian) . While General R.Corman and Colonel Lucas is placed in front of Willard, Jerry is at the side. This is simply because Coppola does not want to integrate this mysterious civilian/CIA into the conversation, to keep him out.

The shots uses in the movie are amazing. We see the helicopter shots when Captain Willard meets Kilgore and the audience gets a peek into the war. Throughout the movie we see Captain Willard plays a very passive role in the movie and through that we the truths and lies of the Vietnam War. To establish the massiveness of the attack we see the usage of extreme wide shot from various angles, but mainly high angles. The best scene in this attack is one of the jet fighters where again we see use of high angle shot, and a combination of intense music that heightens up the audience.

After this we see a variety of things that contributes to the awesomeness of this movie. As they go more into the jungle and the river they go more into the heart of darkness. The river plays a big motif in the movie, signifying the drift deeper into madness.

The boat is also a motif. After the encounter with the tiger, Willard says, “Never get outa of the boat”. The boat signifies a safe haven for the soldiers as they drift deeper down the river. Whenever they were attacked or when they reach Kurtz’s terrority the boat as acted as a safe haven.

Dead bodies are also a motif. As they came closer into the Kurtz’s territory the number of dead bodies keeps increasing. Also as they come closer they first encounter a variety of destroyed helicopter, and when they finally reached they encounter destroyed a jet engine, and jet engine have been portrayed as a sort of ultimate weapon. A pan shot occurs there moving upwards of the engine and then dives into the water and comes out again towards the boat.

The introduction of Kurtz has been slow and pacey. Coppola has made use of the travelling time on the river, Willard gives keeps giving us a narration on the Kurtz achievement. When Willard finally meets Kurtz, Coppola plays with the lighting and teases the audience who are anxious to see Kurtz. We parts of Kurtz face, but never his whole face and when this is done, Kurtz withdraws his face into the darkness and one could almost see his left eye glinting. The character shown by Kurtz is quiet surprising compared to the impression from Willard’s narration of him and the journalist depiction.

Kurtz voice is soft and not a strong one, he is cracking up.

There are few aspects of the last scene that must be discussed. Coppola does the comparison of killing of Kurtz and the bull very well. While the killing of the bull is very violent, Coppola portrays the killing of the Kurtz in an almost beautiful manner. Willard when he is at the door step after killing Kurtz, a medium close up shot, Willard takes a step back, his face goes into the darkness. This is almost as if Coppola is teasing is before the next few seconds, because the next few seconds when Willard is walking and everyone is bowing to him it almost seemed like Willard was taking the place of Kurtz.

The movie is an awesome one.

Brand You?

Recently my professor has given a project to a bunch of people. This project is about creating a brand for their individual identities. This bids me to think of everyday. Everyday the things we say, the habits we have it all adds to our brand. We are all marketing ourselves. We are constantly trying to sell ourselves to a company or to some or another other institute. All of this is complemented by the body language. How many of us are conscious of our body language.

Many speakers at seminars have found trouble at keeping the attention of the audience. Many in the audience have pointed out that the speaker’s body language is not convincing enough. Still it is not easy to control one’s body language.

By the time one cross eighteen years, there is definite character set in that individual. This character becomes the person’s brand. The person may be funny, relaxed, hyper, emotional. That person will become defined by this feature and his or her character will be based on it.

As in individual, he or she has something to offer that world, some specialty or expertise. What is this expertise? How much effect does it have? Or do you have variety of expertise?

And finally what you speak. What comes out of your mouth may many a time become the face value of what you are.

All these combinations become who you are, who define you and what becomes what you are to the world.

In today’s world individual branding is important. An individual brand may define a company, it may define a product, it may define a team or it may even define a game.

Rata Tata or Steve Jobs is the brand image for their respective Corporations. David Bechkam used to be faced of the English football team. The brand of Sachine may define the standards of a game.

Whether an individual or a famous personality, you have a character, you have a brand. Your brand may be inspiring those around you or the world.