They’re the new trend, Time magazine informs us.
Thanks goodness my days of working for others are behind me. Socially awkward chappies like me would have immense difficulty in impressing anyone with a video résumé. I’d imagine, however, that even if good video résumés help some confident freshers get entry-level jobs, their usefulness will diminish as one goes up the ladder. After a point, what you do surely has to have more impact than how you present yourself. No?
(Link via email from Kusum Rohra.)
Posted by Amit Varma on 12 March, 2007 in
Miscellaneous
Headlines like ”India-Pak terror pact sinking fast” exasperate me. Whaddya expect? As I have written before, the India-Pakistan peace process is a charade. While it is in General Pervez Musharraf’s interest to talk peace with India, as it makes him appear responsible in the eyes of the international community, it is equally in his interest to continue the conflict, which Pakistan’s military needs for its sustenance. All talk, no walk, in other words.
Similar incentives drive Musharraf’s actions as far as the War on Terror is concerned. As I wrote here, appearing to be America’s ally gets the foreign aid flooding in (1, 2), which Pakistan’s economy desperately needs. However, if al-Qaeda and the Taliban are actually defeated, then that aid will begin to dry up, as Musharraf and Pakistan will no longer be needed so badly.
In each case, Musharraf is doing what any rational person in his place would do. The only way to solve either problem is to change his incentives. And, much as the mandarins in New Delhi may shudder at the thought, the Americans can do that far better than we can.
The next few months will be interesting.
(Some earlier posts on Musharraf.)
Posted by Amit Varma on 12 March, 2007 in
Economics |
Politics
You can’t undo history, can you? What, then, is the point of this?
Posted by Amit Varma on 12 March, 2007 in
Miscellaneous
Upside: The chicks throw themselves at you.
Downside: Everybody knows if you snog them.
I wonder why the British haven’t yet thought of putting their royal family on a reality show. Clearly there’s a market for it, and the royals would hardly notice the difference.
Posted by Amit Varma on 12 March, 2007 in
Journalism |
Miscellaneous
Everybody wants a share of the pie. Reservations, pah!
(My feelings on reservations have been expressed here. What else is there to say? The divisions grow...)
Posted by Amit Varma on 12 March, 2007 in
India |
Politics
The Indian Economy Blog is looking for contributors. If you enjoy writing about the Indian economy, and are interested in joining the team at the IEB, get in touch with Prashant Kothari at ppkothari[AT]stringinfo[DOT]com. Make a difference!
Posted by Amit Varma on 12 March, 2007 in
Miscellaneous
In a wonderful series where masters and their protégés talk about each other, the young golfer Henrietta Brockway says:
Golf is pretty addictive. You hit 20 bad shots, then you hit one good one. You want to hit that good one again and again so you just keep trying and trying and trying.
I think that’s true of writing as well. But here’s the problem: in golf, you know when you hit a bad shot, because it hits a bunker or goes into the woods or misses the green by a long way. In writing, it’s not so clear, and depends on an individual’s judgement. Some writers could think that every shot is a good shot, and fool themselves into easy satisfaction. Others could set their bar too high, and be forever scared to write because their definition of a good shot is one that Calvino or Kundera played, and no beginning writer can compete against those. I think the ones that make it minimise the self-delusion, but have the courage to persevere even when they are racked with self-doubt, as all good writers inevitably are at some point.
Needless to say, writing about writing is easier than the writing itself. Pah.
Posted by Amit Varma on 10 March, 2007 in
Personal |
Small thoughts
I was browsing through some of my old posts, in sheer disgust, when I came across the book-tag meme. Remember that? It was a meme that demanded that we list down our favourite books and suchlike, and a whole bunch of Indian bloggers, not yet cynical enough at the time, duly did so. A lot of it is fascinating reading, and as I’ve spent the last 40 minutes revisiting those posts, I might as well point you to them as well. Here’s my response to the book tag, and here’s my list of all the other book-taggers.
The dominant meme these days, of course, is the “Ignore All Memes” meme. That works for me!
Posted by Amit Varma on 10 March, 2007 in
Arts and entertainment |
Personal
This piece of mine has been published in the March 9, 2007 issue of Time Out Mumbai as “Field Days.”
Television was the best thing that happened to Indian cricket, and then the worst.
Once upon a time television pushed cricket into the modern age in India. As India opened up to the world a decade-and-a-half ago, in more ways than one, kids in small towns throughout the country tuned into satellite television and saw a brave new world. Instead of homegrown DD commentators uttering banalities in two languages, they saw the best cricket broadcasters in the world educating them on the game: From the likes of Richie Benaud, Ian Chappell, Geoff Boycott and Martin Crowe, they learned to appreciate the nuances of the sport. They picked up the values that would help them thrive in international cricket: once, pot-bellied Indian cricketers would saunter between wickets and refuse to dive while fielding because, apparently, Indian grounds were hard. Look at any Indian cricketer below the age of 25, and you shall see the good that television has done.
But television also made itself a slave to the monster it created. In a celebrity-obsessed era, viewers craved the familiar, and broadcasters stopped taking chances: at a certain point in time, it became default policy to hire ex-cricketers as commentators. Sometimes ex-cricketers provide the insight only a player can. But most ex-cricketers who have turned to commentary in the last few years have been hired for star value. They know it, and don’t work as hard at preparing for a game as they should, and it shows. Cliches abound, as they work on auto-pilot. It is no coincidence that India’s only world-class commentator is the only non-player who’s made a place for himself in the commentary box: Harsha Bhogle. It is unlikely that too many others will get a chance.
Read more...
Posted by Amit Varma on 09 March, 2007 in
Essays and Op-Eds |
India |
Sport
A 30-year-old gent from Mumbai has reportedly approached the Bombay High Court asking that they declare him to be God. HIndustan Times reports:
“I am the supreme lord and the god of all religions. I am Jesus Christ, Lord Ram, Lord Krishna and even Gautam Buddha. Earlier, I was born as Alexander the great,” Dharmendra Mishra told the court.
This supreme god had one prayer to make to the high court — ask President APJ Abdul Kalam to officially declare him as god and hand him the affairs of the nation.
“Give me the power to rule the country, the world and the United Nations,” he told the division bench of acting Chief Justice J.N. Patel and Justice S.C. Dharmadhikari.
This is savagely joyful. To my unending dismay, the court dismissed his petition, “saying that such a case does not fall under the jurisdiction of the judiciary.” Pah.
But the most delightful element of it all is that the fellow works in a call center. I can imagine some poor housewife from Texas calling a helpline because her washing machine isn’t working, and this guy picks up and says, “Hello, this is God on the line. How may I help you?”
Posted by Amit Varma on 09 March, 2007 in
India
