NEW P:)ST

A curated collection of creative things and interesting thoughts. Some of it, ours. The rest, collected carefully from the online and offline worlds. Published in public interest by Jokar. Read more about the blog here.

  • The book list you must read

    Even a book list by Neil French is fun to read.

    BOOKS (Updated 1/2/08) 

    In my experience, people in my business frequently enjoy the same books, films, and music. Since I’m often asked about my favourites, here are some books: (Films and music used to be on here, under different buttons on the web-site. Research showed that nobody cared enough for me to bother updating them, and frankly, they don’t vary as much as my book-preferences, so I’ve deleted them)

    I read a hell of a lot. I’ve excluded obvious classics, like Dickens, Kipling, Dostoevsky, A.A.Milne, Conrad and so on. These below are more current, and may never even become classics…but I’d hate you to miss them. 
    Incidentally, I’ve put books I really dislike in red, like that. Don’t want you to think I’d actually recommended them!

    Bold italics means “do not miss this one” 
    Underlined Bold Italics means “do not miss this one or your entire life will have been pointless”.

    BOOKS I’M CURRENTLY READING, or have just read…or which are on the bedside table.

    Lost Worlds. Michael Bywater. I’ve read everything I can by this bloke, ever since he was a dyspeptic ranter on the now-defunct ‘Punch’ magazine. He now writes regularly in The Independent. This is, I guess, placeable in the Grumpy Old Men genre, but actually it’s MUCH more important than that. If you’re over forty and English, you have to read it. If you’re over sixty, it’s the story of your life. His latest, ‘Big Babies’ has a horrid cover-design, but is, if anything, even more grumpy. I LOVED it!

    Pontoon. Garrison Keillor. I was reminded how much I liked his work when I recognised his as the voice-over on the rightly award-winning Honda series of commercials (in itself an inspired choice). My recommendation, though, is first to buy one of the original audio-books, which feature a selection of his radio talks called ‘The Prairie Home Companion’. If you like those, you’ll adore his books.

    The Good Husband of Zebra Drive. Alexander McCall Smith. The adventures of Mrs. Ramotswe, proprietor of the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency in Botswana are addictive. This is the latest. Full of gentle humour and lots of humanity, they are the perfect antidote to ‘civilisation’. Get them all. No sex, no violence, not much tragedy, and a simple joy to read. (Oddly enough, I can’t get along with any of his other efforts. Mrs. Ramotswe rules).

    Shakespeare. Bill Bryson. Sheer delight. Everything you ever wanted to know about William S., deftly researched, and written by a very funny man who doesn’t try too hard to be so. Even if you’re not a Bard-fan, you could enjoy this.

    The Uncommon Reader. Alan Bennett. The Queen discovers that the traveling library stops at the staff entrance of Buck House. Unwittingly, almost, she begins to read (having avoided it for sixty years). The story starts here and is a joy! The denouement is brilliant. I love Alan Bennett, and play his readings and plays on my iPod and in the car. It might be worth getting the audio-book of this, just for his delivery.

    The Generals. Simon Scarrow. See below.

    Imperium. Robert Harris. Skullduggery in Ancient Rome. Just a great read, as I now realise have been all his books, starting with the Hannibal the Cannibal series. I think he deserves to be in the favourite writers section actually.

    This is just the tip of the iceberg. Want to read the whole thing? Go here.

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  • Baker Tweet

    The brief: Help the new café across from Poke put itself on the map. 

    Poke’s answer: A ‘magical’ box that enabled the staff to announce the arrival of fresh baked goods via Twitter. It was both novel and useful, getting people talking and ensuring that locals knew when to turn up to get the freshest bread.

    Moral of the story: Social media is for us and not the other way around. Proved by the crazy bunch at Poke.

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  • Good filmmaking lessons

    1. The learning was about interpreting a written concept and transferring it with the right feel onto film media. Filmmaking can either embellish an idea, or make you lose the idea completely.
    2. I also can’t forget what Piyush Pandey once told me: “You must disappear as a director from this project.” Every artiste has an urge to prove himself, an urge for showmanship. A great performance comes through not as an actor, but when he is the character. I learnt from him that it is vital to let your content do the talking.
    3. That Nirma Underwater Ballet film project with TapRoot taught me to always try something you think you cannot do. The dancers had to dance and come into the right position under water. It was a virtual nightmare and almost didn’t work.
    4. Satyajit Ray had this rule of sorts that everyone on the set should return with something that they learnt that day. He told all of us to write down what we learnt each day at the shoot and show it to him.
    5. Ray always pre-visualised his films. He worked very hard on them and had great respect for the written script and storyboard. He would ‘shot divide’ everything. As a result of this methodical approach, he hardly re-shot sequences. It is rarely the equipment or the technology which makes a film; it is the mind that works behind it.

    Shantanu Bagchi on his defining moments and why planning is important.

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  • Rockin’

    When we saw these as full-page ads in the newspaper, we instantly felt like cutting them and pasting it on our wall. Really cool work by Grzegorz Domaradzki.

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  • Right, Monkey!

    We were looking out for an option to Microsoft Word for a distraction-free writing writing experience. Much to our pleasant suprise, we found quite a few. But that one that caught our eye was WriteMonkey.

    Writemonkey is a Windows writing application with an extremely stripped down user interface, leaving you alone with your thoughts and your words. It is light, fast and free. With an array of innovative tools under the hood and full Markdown* support, it helps you write better.

    Our favourite part is the splash screen, which has Monkey’s pearls of wisdom. A perfect to begin the writing process if you ask us!

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  • Now this is what we call customisation!

    Write a Bike by Juri Zaech. Juri states that he’s working on prototyping one of the designs. Very curious to see it when that happens.

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  • On the road to inner peace

    Master Shifu! Forget Po, you should go to Bandra West if you want to see the perfect example of Inner Peace being practised. Once you reach near Kensilworth Arcade which is opposite McDonalds and houses KFC on the ground floor, just stop at the bend outside KFC. People who know this area well will tell you that Chaos is its middle name. Noise, Traffic and Confusion have been residing there since years. There at the same KFC corner, a few feet apart from each other, you will see two souls all curled up with their eyes closed, immersed in a world of their own. People would be hurrying past them; vendors would be shouting at the top of their voices and also in their ears; cabs and rickshaws would not be making things any easier. But they won’t budge, not even an inch. Their eyes will remain closed; their bodies will still be curled up; and you would be rubbing your eyes and pinching yourself to check if all of this is real. And no, they are not dead. You would know when you watch the easy, controlled breathing through the ups and downs of their stomachs. Life’s a bitch, they say but these two dogs (huge ones at that) sure know how to take it in their stride. Po could learn something from them. I know I did. Thank you, Dogs. Woof!

  • Conversation with a cabbie

    I was stuck in evening traffic on my way to KFC, Bandra in a cab when the cabbie started a conversation with an interesting and amusing thought.

    Cabbie: Goverment ko family planning chod kar ab car planning shuru kar dena chahiye. Kitne car hain road par.

    Me: (smiling) Hmmm.

    Cabbie: Aapko yehi utarna hain ki aur aagey jaana hain?

    Me: Aur aagey. McDonalds pata hain aapko? KFC ki yaahan.

    Cabbie: Yeh KFC ka full form kya hain?

    Me: Kentucky Fried Chicken. Kentucky America mein hain. Ek aadmi ne fried chicken banaya aur woh famous ho gaya. To usne yeh shuru kar diya. Kyunki Kentucky Fried Chicken itna lamba naam hain, to usne…

    Cabbie: Use KFC kar diya (laughs).

    Me: Haan. Wahan ka Vada Pav hain samjh lo.

    Cabbie: Mujhe goverment ne Special Magistrate ka post diya hain. Pata hain aapko. Woh True Copy karke sign aur stamp karte hain na, woh. Doctors, lawyers ko banate hain…Gazetted Officer. Government ne mujhe bhi banaya hain.

    Me: Attestation ke liye…hmmm. To aap taxi kyun chalate hain?

    Cabbie: Yeh to hamara purana kaam hain. Ise kaise chod sakte hain. Maine ek card bhi banaya tha. Mere naam ke baad maine likh diya ‘Taxi Driver’. Mere dost ne kahan ki Taxi Driver kyun chapva diya. Maine kahan ki to us mein kya hain. Baad mein maine use short karke TD kar diya.

    Me: (laughing) Yeh accha kiya. Log poochenge ki TD kya hain.

    Cabbie: (smiling) Haan. Jaise Bcom, BA hota hain waise TD. Woh aa gaya KFC.

    Me: Wohi left mein ruka dijiye. Kitna hua? (giving money) Apke paas aapka card hoga ab?

    Cabbie: (taking the money) Nahi. Aap number le lo.

    Me: Aap ka naam kya hain?

    Cabbie: Gyan Singh. Number hain 99XXX XXXXX

    Me: Attestation kahan se karte ho? Rehte kahan ho?

    Cabbie: Malad.

    Me: Aap pure din taxi chalate ho to attestation kaise aur kab karte ho?

    Cabbie: Ab thodi der mein ghar jaakar shuru karunga. Line lag jaati hain raat ko. Nahi to logon ko keh deta hoon ki ghar ka pata de do, subeh subeh mein hi aa jaunga. Area ki ladke kehte hain ki aap bhi. (smiles)

    Me: Accha hain. Chaliye. Khyal rakhiyega aap ka.

    Cabbie: Thank you. Aapka shubh naam kya hain?

    Me: Karthik.

    Cabbie: Woh Ganesh ke bete hain na.

    Me: Nahi. Bhai hain.

    Cabbie: Accha, accha. Chaliye.

    I walked away smiling towards my destination. I particularly loved our farewell where he wrongly assumed Lord Karthik to be Ganesh’s son. Thank you, Mr. Gyan Singh, for the useful gyan. 🙂

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  • Why I returned my iPad?

    Bored? Good for you.

    We have a new ritual now, and it really has become my favorite part of the day. I put her to bed 15 minutes earlier than before. She crawls into bed and, instead of shushing her, I lie next to her and we just talk. She talks about things that happened that day, things she’s worried about, things she’s curious or thinking about. I listen and ask her questions. We laugh together. And our minds just wander.

    This is a wonderful end to an interesting article: Why I Returned My iPad. Not at all a boring read and if you beg to differ, remember, even that might be a good thing. 🙂 Thank you, Peter Bregman, for having a different take on boredom. Via: Lester Fernandes

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  • Awakening

    If every day is an awakening, you will never grow old. You will just keep growing.

    —Gail Sheehy

    Beautiful thoughts like these are sometimes found in the unlikeliest of places. In this case, at the end of an e-mail forward (about a Japanese beer 3D TV commercial).