Book Review: Sudhi Kannan

Writing an adventure tale is a job which requires skill, maintaining the reader’s interest throughout requires a practiced mind, and interspersing the narration with humor is a sign of creative intellect. Take up ‘Sudhi Kannan: An Elephantic Adventure’, published by Blackbuck Publication and you will find it all there. Penned by Krishna Raj H.K, the novel is a page turner in all its aspects.

Sudhi is a ten year old boy, who’s being brought up by his father, Kannan, a single parent. Sudhi is mischievous. Kannan is fun. Both of them take life as it comes. The father-son duo shares a beautiful, friendly relation, and this is a very strong driving point of the book. Sudhi has a friend in school, Shijon, his partner in crimes and a dear friend. The school is upset with Sudhi’s antics and Shijon’s involvement in all of them. Kannan finds his son to be different. In fact, Kannan is an image of an ideal young parent, managing an advertising agency and playing a doting father.

The book has multiple narrations going on simultaneously which helps break monotony and shuffles the perspective of the story bringing a brilliant pace to the narrative. The story proceeds like this: Kannan takes a day off from work and takes Sudhi out for a one-day getaway to Elelphanta Islands. On this trip, they meet Pooja Mithaiwala, Sudhi’s classmate, and her mother Megha. Pooja and Sudhi dislike each other and maintain a distance from each other, occasionally pulling each other’s legs.

On the island, three men land to take control of the place. The motive is revenge. The three men are no ordinary folks. The leader of the group, Boss, has mind-bending powers. The other two, Stephen and Velutty support him in his plan. Boss takes control of the military powers and holds tourist for ransom. He reigns supreme, and is nearly through but for Sudhi and Kannan. Yes, the ten year old boy and his father. Then more twists follow and the excitement peaks with the climax. The end is unpredictable, and that is amazing.

Krishna has managed to do a very fine job with such a difficult genre. His writing is tight and the intensity oozes out from his sentences. I loved the fast paced action. The switching of the episodes between Elephanta, Sudhi and Shijon is finely balanced. The humor quotient is also good. I laughed out loud at various incidences and could almost see it as a motion picture in my imagination. Maybe someday I will.

Sudhi and Kannan’s tale was a beautiful father-son story, a cute blossoming love story, and an action thriller. And these elements call for a sequel.  I hope the writer has more adventures for Sudhi and Kannan. I would love to read more of them and more from the author.

Till then, Pause. Rewind.

 Book: Sudhi Kannan: An Elephantic Adventure

Author: Krishna Raj H.K
Publisher: Blackbuck Publication
Price: Rs. 180

AIESEC : Empowering Youth

AIESEC is not only the world’s largest youth run organization, but it is so much more. AIESEC is about taking a firm stand.It’s about realizing that “potential” isn’t a mere word. It’s a place where things are done and not just planned.
A platform where you’re allowed to start young, and lead young – that’s what AIESEC is all about. It is an experience. An experience that changes one in ways, not visible only in the short term, but also in the long term.

AIESEC has always had an international touch to it, since at its core lies exchange. Exchange empowers people by showing them the “other side” as people call it. Ultimately, one realizes the “other side” is the same as “our own side”. It brings the world together. That’s what AIESEC is about – fulfilling humankind’s potential for peace and happiness. And that has always been what we envision.

AIESEC provides its members with an integrated development experience (The AIESEC Experience) comprised of leadership opportunities, international internships and participation in a global learning environment. We do this so that we can enable young people to explore and develop their leadership potential for them to have a positive impact in society.

It would not be an exaggeration to call AIESEC in Delhi University the best local chapter in the world- we truly imbibe the AIESEC way into all our members. AIESEC in Delhi University remains the highest performing LC in the world. We have also won the “Best Local Office in India” award numerous times, with 2012 being the most recent year.

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I Too Loved This Story

Would you like to read a story where you clearly know that the main plot is based on some random man's love life? Most importantly, after knowing that the story will end on a sad note? I would not and that's why I kept avoiding 'I too had a love story' for a long, long time. I had no interest in taking up this book, the cover was uninviting, the publisher was a little known company, and most of the reviews shot down the grammar and logic of the book. Ignoring the book was bliss, until a few days back when I could no longer hold back the mystery of its success. I ordered the book online. New cover, new publisher. Same story.

'I Too Had A Love Story', is an autobiographical take by the author, Ravinder Singh, concerning his love life where he lost the girl he was intending to marry just two days before engagement. The novel tells the story through the eyes of Ravin, who meets a girl Khushi on a matrimonial website after a bet with his friends.  The two connect instantly and the relationship grows gradually to friendship and then love. It is a very unusual kind of love story. As much as I believed it to have a 'Chetan-Bhagatish' feel to it, it was very dissimilar inits feel and approach. No over-the-top sequences, no clever usage of humor, just plain language telling a simple tale. This very plain language attracted the ire of grammar nazis and literary critics. But no Shakespeare extracted tears from me. This one did.

The story, the narrative and the whole feel of the novel is very down-to-earth. Most probably, it can be an indirect impact of the author's humble background. He comes from, as he tells in the novel, a small locale called Sambhalpur in Orissa, India. He has a regular IT job, and likes hanging out with friends, boozing occasionally to give his friends some company. Khushi, on the other hand, is a modern happy-go-lucky girl also in an IT firm. She wears modern dresses, her family member have a modern outlook too, which the author clearly depicts in the various episodes and incidents involving him and Khushi's family. The love story looks all set to meet a happy conclusion with both the set of families agreeing to bond, and the couple busy in their respective preparations for the wedding. And then the girl meets with an accident and dies. With this incident the book reaches its climactic end which it hinted at the very beginning by the following words: "Not everyone in this world has a fate to cherish the fullest form of love. Some are born, just to experience the abbreviation of it"

The book won my heart with its many emotionally-drenched lines about two people in love with each other. And trust me, knowing the end does not in any way hampers the pleasure of reading the book, instead it connects you even more closely to the story. Every little happy incident makes you sad because of the unfortunate end you know the protagonists are going to face in the end. As you approach the latter part of the book, every turn of the page makes your heart skip a beat as you pray for the end to get delayed by a few more pages. You start relating to the protagonist, as they come to life with the various commonalities of ordinary life of people in a city. The pain is heightened by the fact that Ravin and Khushi live in two completely different cities, miles apart in the geography and met only two times in the whole story before she left her forever.

Not very much a fan of lovey-dovey stories, I found myself holding this book before my eyes for hours at stretch and finished it within two days. Initially I was skeptical about the book and the pace was slow, but as the story moved towards the main plot, the book became hard to put down. But I had to put it down in between. To take breaks for my heavy heart and occasionally to wipe away any drop of stray tears rolling on my cheek.

I have read Chetan Bhagat and they have touched my heart too, but surely not in this way. Here, the tragedy was the king, and I as a reader its slave, hoping, praying, crying, knowing very well that the end is near, and it is not good. The last book I remember which managed to bring out my tears was Khaled Hosseini's 'The Kite Runner' which was a long time back. That book brought me out of the illusion that books can never make you cry, and this book reaffirms that lesson. What it is, if not the power of words which moved me, like thousands of other fellow readers?

'I Too Had A Love Story' made me learn that tragedy can be pleasant to read. I also learnt to never judge a book by its cover, or language or grammar, again in the future. I loved this love story, and so will you. Take a leap of faith.

Book: I Too Had a Love Story
Author: Ravinder Singh
Publisher: Penguin
Price: Rs. 140

Interview with E-Club, Jamia University

My Interview with the Entrepreneurship Club, Jamia Millia Islamia, published in their inaugural newsletter.

Hello , Aaqib ! How are you. Your Venture and projects have been quite talked about in our Jamia Campus. So , We'll talk today about your Venture - Imagication and your Life as an Entrepreneur.

Hope you don't mind sharing your Secrets with us.

Aaqib - Of course not!

Kriti : Aaqib , tell us about what is Imagication all about and how or from where did you get the inspiration/idea to start Imagication from?

Aaqib : I would call Imagication a graphics design workshop, instead of a firm, which strives to do more than just churn out colourful computer imagery. Imagication is the art of creating magic through imagination.

The idea to start imagication was neither based on impulse nor was planned. It was a result of gradual developments in the form of work I kept experimenting with. 

Kriti : What made you decide to be a self-employed entrepreneur over a freelancer at this age?

See, there’s a thin line of difference between the two classifications you mentioned and I don’t know myself as to which one I belong more. As far as the assignments and growth are concerned, the freelancer part of me will take care of the work, and the entrepreneurial side would manage Imagication, the brand.

Kriti : Tell us about the Best logos that you've designed and for which firms/Brands?
Best is too strong a superlative which I feel too weak to use for my own work. But, there are two logos Imagication is proud to be associated with, one for MiRAAS 2013 –the annual cultural fest of Jamia and another for JMI Entrepreneurship Club. Both the initiatives provided with immense creative freedom and the logos are completely concept-driven.

Kriti What are the tools that you used to develop your client base?
In my experience, word of mouth has been the best tool which brought me some good quality of work. Social media is good for promoting your brand and getting the message across but the person-to-person network is essential to reach out to the actual potential clients.

Kriti : Just to enlighten our potential entrepreneurs , tell us about the initial struggles that you faced(any family disapproval or nagging by friends) and what did you learn from them?

I have learnt that there is no such thing as initial struggles. It continues till you are an entrepreneur. The struggle to develop new ideas, to excel, to exceed expectations, there is no end to it. But every struggle should result in some lessons.
I was not taken seriously as a designer initially, and neither paid for the work I did. Even today, most of the work is extracted from me as ‘emotional investments’. But I will soon be stopping the ‘freeware’ programme as creativity is directly proportional to time and I invest a lot in every pixel of work I produce.

Kriti :From where did you acquire the inital capital / funding needed for undertaking the functionality?
Since most of the work I do is computer-based I didn't really need any special investment as my laptop is able to process all the heavy graphics with ease. And since my father is also a graphics designer, I already had the required set of softwares saving me from any additional investments. The marketing is currently all based on word of mouth and the facebook page, but I hope to invest on publicity and expansion at a later stage.

Kriti : If you were to advise an upcoming entrepreneur who is just about to start up his venture , what would that be ?

I am no one to dole out advices yet. But observing a strand of grey hair on my head, I would like to say that entrepreneurs should start young. Youth is the phase when you can take risks, when you have whole life to steer and control the flow of events. Ideas are important, money will follow – both investments and returns. Everyone has an entrepreneur in them, and what better time to discover it than now.

The interview as published in the E-Club, JMI's Magazine, 

To keep up with Imagication designs, you can log on to the facebook page: facebook.com/imagication.creatives

Lovebug For A Housefly

Will you ever shed tears for a creature as minion as a housefly? Probably not, unless of course if you are not one of those skimpily-dressed PETA activists. But recently, I cried watching the antics of a housefly. Yes, the previous statement is real, but the context belongs to a piece of fiction. I am talking about Eega (dubbed in Hindi as "Makkhi"), a movie belonging to the South Indian movie industry, Telugu cinema to be precise.

Though not very much a fan of Tollywood (as South Indian movie industry is casually referred to), I got interested in Eega after reading constant reports and reviews, most of them positive. There has been a huge buzz for Makkhi (Pun intended) and curiosity got the better of me. A week back I saw S.S Rajamouli, Eega's writer and director, nominated for the Indian of the Year 2012 award, for his contribution in the field of entertainment through this movie. That propelled my interest in this science-fiction flick which has a housefly as the protagonist. Initially I thought it to be a dead-plot, stupid in fact. But post watching the movie, I feel how stupid was I. I should stop judging the book by it's cover.

The basic plot of the movie felt interesting when I first heard about it a year ago. But to imagine a full-length movie being made on this concept seemed to be either an act of incredible confidence or incredible foolishness. I discovered the former to be true after watching the Hindi dubbed version of the movie. I enjoyed it thoroughly and loved the performance of all the actors. The movie stars Telugu film industry actors, Nani, Samantha and Sudeep in the lead roles. I haven't seem them earlier but they all suited their roles perfectly. Nani's character has a limited screen time, but he brings in chirpiness to the movie playing Samantha's love-interest. Sudeep is a multi-millionaire and plays the negative character in the flick.
Eega is an emotional love story replete with Computer Generated Imagery. It is a usual revenge drama with an unusual angle. An insect taking revenge from a human.

The high level of VFX shots involved in the production is the reason attributed to the delays this movie faced in reaching the theaters. Rajamouli is a director well-known for his masala movies. With the current South Indian fascination of the Hindi film industry, many of his films are being remade in Hindi and all of them are getting great response. Rowdy Rathore and Son of Sardaar are some examples. Rajamouli knows his audience and has packaged the contents with all the features typical to the genre and region. But still, the story gets to you like a wonderfully illustrated comic-book. The version of the movie that I saw had some dubbing-gaps, where the Hindi dialogues were missing and the original Telugu audio came to the fore, yet I never lost interest. I was continually involved with every frame to the end-credits, irrespective of the language barrier.

I don't know how much I must have been missing with all the preconceived notions or due to my knowledge insufficiency regarding other languages.

With Eega, Rajamouli has captured the imagination of millions across the globe, when all the time he was focusing on his home industry. That's one of the signs of a great work.

Do watch Eega/Makkhi - your hate for the irritating little monsters may well buzz off.

Saleskids of The Year

A couple is standing near a counter debating what to buy. Husband wishes for a camera, while the wife is adamant on getting a laptop. The verbal duel goes on till the wife threatens to cancel his Thailand trip, and subsequently the husband gives in to his wife’s demand and orders a laptop.
Seems to be a usual household banter, but it is anything but usual. The couple shown are kids who belong the transitional phase between childhood and teenage. The lady takes up mock anger with perfection and the man sports a fake moustache. The counter is of Flipkart.com, one of India’s largest online consumer goods store.

Welcome to a world that has gone smaller to appeal to a larger number of people. From the Flipkart advertisements which regularly features small kids acting as adults (which is very sweet to watch) to the Oreo advertisements, Allahabad Bank, McDonalds and to the latest commercial spot for ICICI Bank, everyone seems to be looking up the small kids. This trend of using little wonders to sell big numbers isn’t new. In fact, it has been present since the advent of advertising itself. Some little brand ambassadors who became synonymous with the brand are the Murphy Baby (from the Murphy Radio advertisement), the Dhara boy who leaves home in sadness and comes back with the offer of “Jalebi!” and the Parle-G girl who has been our companion during most of the tea-and-snack hours.

By presenting children in advertisements the brands usually want to establish a quick connection with the audience. And they are very much successful in this attempt of theirs. I have seen people flipping through channels to skip advertisement, but they pause to watch if the screen gets filled with the innocence of some kids. And personally I act similarly too.

Following is a list of recent advertisements which I enjoy watching and going by the YouTube numbers, I am sure so do many others. Check them out.

ICICI Bank Rewards Program

This is a sweet 1 minute 20 seconds tale of a little girl, who starts running as soon the school gets over, crosses a small river bridge, jumps through a broken wall and moves at a brisk pace until she sees a solitary building standing on a hill. It is a shop, from which she buys herself a toffee after much deliberation over which one to buy. She returns again the other day with a younger boy who tags along on the magical journey which will reward him with a candy. On reaching the candy shop, the girl discovers that her pocket is torn and she has lost her money. Unable to get the candies, she and the little boy get visibly upset and start to leave the shop when the shopkeeper calls and gives them both a candy, with a smile. And all this while a beautiful Kashmiri poem, “Hukus bukus telli wann che kus” rings in the background in a cute voice, apparently of a girl. The poem, which translates to ‘Who are you and who am I, and tell us who is the creator that permeates through both you and I’, was penned by Lal Ded, one of the greatest poet-saint of 14th century Kashmir. The advertisement sweetly informs about the bank’s rewards program with “Accha lagta hai, jab mile kuchh unexpected” (It feels good when you get awarded something unexpected) and the cute kids drive home the message with ease.

McDonalds

McDonalds has always been very popular with the kids and grown-ups alike. With the onset of inflation and subsequently declining number of people opting to eat-out, McDonalds brought out its Happy Price Menu. Happy Price Menus are either deals on meals or discounted meals in ‘Happy Hours’. And both the steps have been successful in keeping the restaurants crowded and demands sustained. To promote the friendly prices, McD has been regularly releasing advertisements with kids in focus. One of the advertisements which came some months back featured a little girl sitting with a boy his same age. She asks him if she is they are girlfriend-boyfriend? The boy replies in negative and reasons that girlfriends are too demanding. The girl replies that she only wants McAloo Tikki. The boy ponders for a moment, checks his pocket, then smiles and says ‘Okay then’. The next shot shows the ‘couple’ sitting cosily and the girl plants a kiss on the boy’s cheek and then the McD rhetoric “I’m lovin’ it” follows.
Another of the advertisement came around Dushhera, which shows a small boy sitting in the costume of the mythological character Raavan and laughing heartily, very loudly as he scoops through twelve desserts one by one. He is sitting with his father in a McDonalds and the happiness is both expressed through the boy and his father. McDonalds has experimented in advertisements with other adults but needless to say they have failed to make this much of an impact.

Oreo

Open Karo. Lick Karo. And Dunk karo. This is the lesson which the kids in Oreo’s commercials impart, which tells the best way to enjoy Oreo. There have been a series of Oreo advts. in which little kids impart the valuable teaching to relish Oreos it its full essence. There is this advt in particular where a sweet little girl dresses up as a lady in salwar-kurta et al and brings milk and Oreos for his dad who is just back from his office. She teaches him the ‘correct way’ of having the biscuits. And before the man could go for his last step, the girl snatches it away and eats it with a clever grin. The advertisement plays on the childish-naughtiness and through a playful description establishes the biscuit as a ‘kids-favourite’ product.

Flipkart.com

Now these advertisements have won me over completely. A series of them are out on air. And they all have children acting as adults. In the opening paragraph I have already spoken about one of the advertisements in the series. And for the rest I will be posting links, as they are much better to be seen than to be written about.
For me personally, Flipkart has ceased to be a chosen medium of online shopping as the products are usually costlier than competitive websites. But these advertorial spots keep me glued to this brand. I watch them on TV, find them on YouTube and these never fail to tickle my funny bone, or any other part of my anatomy for that matter. The way Flipkart has used children tells about how a child’s play it is to use and order from their website. And in most of their advertisements, there is an in-home Flipkart counter where the family members order the product of their choice. This setting further underlines the ease of ordering and getting the products delivered, all from your home. Flipkart has got all the chords right in this advertorial series.

To The Next Journey

First steps are always unusual. Sometimes weird too. Even if you have walked a long distance, a new journey is always a new task, a new level and a new experience altogether. My experience with my previous blog, www.aaqibkhan1.blog.co.uk, has been of a closely-associated one. I gave 7 years of my life to that blog, gave my heart to the content and my soul to let it reach to a wider audience. I nurtured it like a baby, and we grew up together. It's a deeply emotional moment for me. It was all a pleasant journey until my last blog on The Burma Massacre, where thousands of people lost their lives and property in a large scale attack based on ethnic-issues. The blog went viral, and then it died.

Though the reason is still unclear but efforts to revive it have gone in vain..and all the connections have timed out. After ten days of speculation and contemplation, it was wise to move on. And this post is a proof that I did. And hopefully it's for the better. And hopes are also to create the same environment to put in my posts and to raise the standards of what I put in here. I still abide by my philosophy to put in whatever touches my heart, affects me in one way or the another. And if they again ban my posts, a new blog will be coming up soon. Maybe a v3.0 or something around that line.

With all the points drawn and the slate clean, it's time to etch some new, better stories, to reach out more and touch more and more hearts! Please keep up the blessings and wishes as that is the reason these words are visible on your screen. Help the blog improve by sending in your feedback and keep following the journey which has just started..

Thank You for your continued support.


P.S- This blog is still a 'work-in-progress' project, and a kind of make-shift workshop right now, which will function with nip-and-tucks until I get this new setup well-furnished to build upon. Keep checking this space for more.