I am not a very devoted follower of the SpicyIP group blogs, but do read an eye-catching-titled entry at times. I am numbed seeing the way people, particularly team owners, are cashing in on the popularity of IPL.
Just this morning I heard on the radio that Reebok is giving out customised team jerseys to the ardent IPL fans. And this was the SpicyIP blog that finally made me blog about something (again!) I don't like very much:
"Along with everyone else cashing in on the success of the IPL, IPR firms do not seem far behind. With the objective “to protect IP, make a profit and increase brand valuation”, teams like the Deccan Chargers have opted to create an IP portfolio, including trademarks for team logos, copyright over player uniforms and website layouts.
The Mint reports that the exponential popularity of the IPL has led team owners to recognise the inherent brand value attached and proactively protect the same. Aside from The Deccan Chargers, the Kolkata Knight Riders seem to have also applied to the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks for protection of their mark in the fields of financial services, insurance, beauty care products (amongst others) and the Mumbai Indians have filed trademark applications for cosmetics, musical instruments and photographic equipment etc.
Apart from the more traditional protection, with the aggressive promotion in the real world has been coupled with a more defensive approach on the internet. The teams have opted to drive away cyber squatters by pre-empting unauthorized linking of team websites to other sites as well as pre-empting squatters from buying the team domain names.
With matches becoming more exciting, these concerns are definitely well founded. It certainly looks like it has become the Intellectual Property League!"
Friday, 8 May 2009
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
100 Books
The BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up? Instructions: Put an X next to the ones you've read.
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen X
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling X
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 1984 - George Orwell X
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott X (and the sequels too!)
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (Duh! One is enough)
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell X
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll (Have read the one meant for kiddies, but not the original one)
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen X (This is PnP with different names;))
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen (Did not attempt due to above reason)
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden (Searching for a copy)
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne X
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell X
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown X
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery X (All of them, thanks to a dear friend)
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel X
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens (Kiddies version)
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding X (Both. And loved them)
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville (Kiddies version)
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens (Kiddies version)
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno - Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens X
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle X (The entire original collection, thanks to tai and S)
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute X
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas X
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo X
And there are so many of them which do not feature in this list that I have read... BBC needs to get in touch with me!! ;)
Friday, 24 April 2009
Julie Andrews On Turning 69
To commemorate her 69th birthday, actress / vocalist, Julie Andrews made a special appearance at Manhattan's Radio City Music Hall for the benefit of the AARP. One of the musical numbers she performed was "My Favorite Things" from the legendary movie "Sound Of Music".
Here are the lyrics she used:
Maalox and nose drops and needles for knitting,
Walkers and handrails and new dental fittings,
Bundles of magazines tied up in string,
These are a few of my favorite things.
Cadillacs and cataracts, and hearing aids and glasses,
Polident and Fixodent and false teeth in glasses,
Pacemakers, golf carts and porches with swings,
These are a few of my favorite things.
When the pipes leak,
When the bones creak,
When the knees go bad,
I simply remember my favorite things,
And then I don't feel so bad.
Hot tea and crumpets and corn pads for bunions,
No spicy hot food or food cooked with onions,
Bathrobes and heating pads and hot meals they bring,
These are a few of my favorite things.
Back pain, confused brains and no need for sinnin',
Thin bones and fractures and hair that is thinnin',
And we won't mention our short shrunken frames,
When we remember our favorite things.
When the joints ache,
When the hips break,
When the eyes grow dim,
Then I remember the great life I've had,
And then I don't feel so bad.
Ms. Andrews received a standing ovation from the crowd that lasted over four minutes and repeated encores.
Courtesy Bits and Pieces
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
The Laadli Week
I think it is a great idea to customise the western concept of celebrating commemorative days/weeks for a cause so very Indian in nature. However, compared to the other corporate-backed days/weeks that are recognised, I feel very little is being done on the PR front for the Laadli week. Please correct me if I am wrong, but there is not a single banner/poster in the entire city advertising the L. week. No newspaper has properly covered/followed the happenings of the L. week. Even the radio stations have failed to mass advertise this initiative. Infact, had it not been for MSN updates, I would have not known such a thing was happening in the country! (I do not watch much of TV!!)
Another point to be noted is that even though the funds are being raised now (funds were to be raised during the L. week which was sometime in March 2009) for the education of 600 girls in Sawai Madhopur, a village in Rajasthan; will the girls be able to attend school when the academic year starts after 3 months? Would it not have been better if the organisers had shown some patience and carried out this activity in the months of May-June when schools begin to re-open? Or even in July like those in Delhi?
But I am not complaining...a step has been taken towards realising a dream of mammoth dimensions! :)http://entertainment.in.msn.com/bollywood/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2929233
Saturday, 28 March 2009
IPL
The IPL has had its fair share of attention even before the start of the actual event. Let it be the auctioning, the owners and part-owners, the venues, broadcasting rights - its all over the place. IPL never interested me as I am not a cricket fan (but interests me enough to blog about it ;-) ). But as an Indian and a world citizen, I have the following objections/queries, not necessarily in the order mentioned.
- There is a difference when one plays for one's country and when one plays for a city, if you know what I mean. As far as my (tiny) knowledge about cricket goes, cricket's future as an inter-country game looks brighter than an intra-country game.
- This brings me to the next point. The intra-country game. Though I am against pitching a group of 11 sportsmen against each other, the rest of India is for it. There is no doubt about that. And since IPL has been portrayed as an intra-country game, which it is, there is no point in conducting the event on another continent. The entire purpose of such a venture is defeated. Under these circumstances, is IPL still 'all about cricket' as has been advertised? May I remind that this is the INDIAN PL and not the INTERNATIONAL PL!
- The venue issue leads to the next point. The inter-city competition. It is not a difficult task if the matches are held in India, as was last year. Are the sponsors expecting the same kind of enthusiasm this year?
- Lalit Modi recently made a statement saying that continuity of the game was crucial than the profits! Are you serious Mr. Modi? If so, could you have not scheduled the event pre- or post-elections. Everybody knew that India was going to polls in 2009. Thanks to all the voters' registration advertisements post 26/11. Why not take a gap year instead? Raise a debt-note and return all money that exchanged hands during the auctions!
- This brings me to the last point - auctioning of players - is it not like buying slaves? The difference is that the players get hefty amounts after every match. And international brand endorsements take care of the rest.
It is not that I am against IPL. Its just that it has blown cricket out of proportion. Cricket isn't cricket any more. Its more of glamour and less of sport. Forget cricket entering the Olympics!
But heyy...big deal! Watch the match, enjoy the game and forget it. At least Pak players are excluded this year!!
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
Phew
This is what happened today morning.
I was introduced to a guy (he was more of an Ape-ish looking uncle...as though he had excess bone growth!) by a common acquaintance. This new guy came to me and said, "I am told u had gone at UK to study. If you are OK, I want to ask few questions." (Note the wierd English). I told him I had no problems answering his questions. Once the questions started, I knew I had made a big mistake! Our conversation went as follows:
['AU' stands for ape-ish uncle. And everything in italics is what I say in my mind.]
*****
AU: How is everybody there?
M: (umm...what a question!! Are u referring to the Queen's pets or the sweeper who cleaned my apartment weekly?) Umm...is this relating to the universities or living or working? (I get no answer to this question.)
AU: I will get job? I have work permit of Saudi. So I can work in London?
M: (Do you really think you are allowed to work in the UK with a Saudi work permit??!!) I cannot say if you will get a job there. And definitely not during these times!!
AU: I can ask for work permit?
M: (May be he means apply for work permit) If a company interviews and selects you, then its the company's responsibility to get a work permit for you. Nobody can apply individually for a work permit as one applies for a visa.
AU: OK. But I will get good job?
M: (Right!! Now he is not happy with just a job. He wants a 'good' job.) I am sorry, but I really can say nothing about getting jobs.
AU: I also want favour. (Do you have no self respect??) My cousin is also there. He has hard problems with money. There is no bank account and he has cheque. So if you have known friends there, he can stay with them...(WHAT DOES THAT BLOODY MEAN???)
M: I think the International Students' Association at your cousin's University will be able to help better.
AU: Where is International Students' Association?
M: At your cousin's University!
AU: My cousin is not in University, he is in college. (OMG OMG OMG Help me !! HELP !!!)
M: (talking VERY SLOWLY and PATIENTLY) You see, there is a "department" in all colleges and universities to help and support international students. So may be your cousin can go to this department and they will help him!
AU: OK. 6 months before, I talked to a man called Mr. *** and he sent me letter about admission. In letter, he had wrote the start date of course and money to paid. Now last week again I talked with him and he is not there. Nodoby is there for long?
M: (NOBODY IS THERE FOR LONG ??? All humans are mortal, if thats what you mean!! And isn't there a possibility that he may have got a better job?!) Umm...he may have changed his job!! (What is the whole point of asking me this question anyway????)
AU: OK. Last week, there was another man (There you go....so there IS somebody else to answer your questions!!) He again send me same letter, only with date refreshed.
M: (Refreshed???) OK. So whats the problem?
AU: In letter he says to pay full amount. What if I have no admission and I waste money?
M: No University will ask for full payment of tution fees! Read the letter again. It must be 'processing fees for application'.
AU: OK. Processing fees for admission?
M: APPLICATION. (But let it be admission if it pleases you!)
AU: OK. What cost it will take to travel 2 hours there by road?
M: (Complete silence. I was literally stunned!) Umm...sorry?
AU: My cousin is 2 hours away by road from my University. I can say him to go and see the problem.
M: Ohhhh.....(I suddenly felt enlightened like the Buddha) I see....Well...I cannot say how much it will cost you. It depends on how far you need to travel and whether you travel by train or coach.
AU: My cousin stays 2 hours from University. Not very far. So it will take how much money?
M: (Poor guy was trying to put everything in simple words. Speed = Distance/Time. Where does cost feature in this?) I cannot say anything about the travelling costs. Really I cannot.
AU: (Still being stubborn) But you must have travel here and there for 2 hours?
M: (Trying not to laugh because it never occured to me to travel 'here and there' aimlessly for just 2 hours so that somebody 3 years later could have the benefit of my aimless wanderings!) Travelling costs don't depend upon the travelling time, well, at least not directly. If you reserve a seat well in advance, you can get it at half the price! Or you may even need to pay twice the amount.
AU: In Saudi, (You are not in Saudi!!) there is 1.5 km. Everywhere travelling will be same cost. Travelling rises 1.5 km, then money rises. (By this time I had serious doubts about his clearing his IELTS) So in London (note: Its London now. Not UK) how much money is needed?
M: (Very patiently again) I think the fares for train and coach must be determined in a different way in the UK. (Hello...of course!!)
AU: All travelling is based upon the cost of oil and petrol. So if you tell me, I can imagine cost.
M: I did not have a car when I was studying there. So I have no clue what was the oil and petrol cost 3 years back.
AU: May be you read paper. Paper always has all costs.
M: (F*** off !!! You expect me to remember fuel prices ??? I wonder if an Arab oil sheikh remembers them!!) NO.
*****
Phew....That was how my day started! And ended with me typing the conversation and re-living it! :)
I was introduced to a guy (he was more of an Ape-ish looking uncle...as though he had excess bone growth!) by a common acquaintance. This new guy came to me and said, "I am told u had gone at UK to study. If you are OK, I want to ask few questions." (Note the wierd English). I told him I had no problems answering his questions. Once the questions started, I knew I had made a big mistake! Our conversation went as follows:
['AU' stands for ape-ish uncle. And everything in italics is what I say in my mind.]
*****
AU: How is everybody there?
M: (umm...what a question!! Are u referring to the Queen's pets or the sweeper who cleaned my apartment weekly?) Umm...is this relating to the universities or living or working? (I get no answer to this question.)
AU: I will get job? I have work permit of Saudi. So I can work in London?
M: (Do you really think you are allowed to work in the UK with a Saudi work permit??!!) I cannot say if you will get a job there. And definitely not during these times!!
AU: I can ask for work permit?
M: (May be he means apply for work permit) If a company interviews and selects you, then its the company's responsibility to get a work permit for you. Nobody can apply individually for a work permit as one applies for a visa.
AU: OK. But I will get good job?
M: (Right!! Now he is not happy with just a job. He wants a 'good' job.) I am sorry, but I really can say nothing about getting jobs.
AU: I also want favour. (Do you have no self respect??) My cousin is also there. He has hard problems with money. There is no bank account and he has cheque. So if you have known friends there, he can stay with them...(WHAT DOES THAT BLOODY MEAN???)
M: I think the International Students' Association at your cousin's University will be able to help better.
AU: Where is International Students' Association?
M: At your cousin's University!
AU: My cousin is not in University, he is in college. (OMG OMG OMG Help me !! HELP !!!)
M: (talking VERY SLOWLY and PATIENTLY) You see, there is a "department" in all colleges and universities to help and support international students. So may be your cousin can go to this department and they will help him!
AU: OK. 6 months before, I talked to a man called Mr. *** and he sent me letter about admission. In letter, he had wrote the start date of course and money to paid. Now last week again I talked with him and he is not there. Nodoby is there for long?
M: (NOBODY IS THERE FOR LONG ??? All humans are mortal, if thats what you mean!! And isn't there a possibility that he may have got a better job?!) Umm...he may have changed his job!! (What is the whole point of asking me this question anyway????)
AU: OK. Last week, there was another man (There you go....so there IS somebody else to answer your questions!!) He again send me same letter, only with date refreshed.
M: (Refreshed???) OK. So whats the problem?
AU: In letter he says to pay full amount. What if I have no admission and I waste money?
M: No University will ask for full payment of tution fees! Read the letter again. It must be 'processing fees for application'.
AU: OK. Processing fees for admission?
M: APPLICATION. (But let it be admission if it pleases you!)
AU: OK. What cost it will take to travel 2 hours there by road?
M: (Complete silence. I was literally stunned!) Umm...sorry?
AU: My cousin is 2 hours away by road from my University. I can say him to go and see the problem.
M: Ohhhh.....(I suddenly felt enlightened like the Buddha) I see....Well...I cannot say how much it will cost you. It depends on how far you need to travel and whether you travel by train or coach.
AU: My cousin stays 2 hours from University. Not very far. So it will take how much money?
M: (Poor guy was trying to put everything in simple words. Speed = Distance/Time. Where does cost feature in this?) I cannot say anything about the travelling costs. Really I cannot.
AU: (Still being stubborn) But you must have travel here and there for 2 hours?
M: (Trying not to laugh because it never occured to me to travel 'here and there' aimlessly for just 2 hours so that somebody 3 years later could have the benefit of my aimless wanderings!) Travelling costs don't depend upon the travelling time, well, at least not directly. If you reserve a seat well in advance, you can get it at half the price! Or you may even need to pay twice the amount.
AU: In Saudi, (You are not in Saudi!!) there is 1.5 km. Everywhere travelling will be same cost. Travelling rises 1.5 km, then money rises. (By this time I had serious doubts about his clearing his IELTS) So in London (note: Its London now. Not UK) how much money is needed?
M: (Very patiently again) I think the fares for train and coach must be determined in a different way in the UK. (Hello...of course!!)
AU: All travelling is based upon the cost of oil and petrol. So if you tell me, I can imagine cost.
M: I did not have a car when I was studying there. So I have no clue what was the oil and petrol cost 3 years back.
AU: May be you read paper. Paper always has all costs.
M: (F*** off !!! You expect me to remember fuel prices ??? I wonder if an Arab oil sheikh remembers them!!) NO.
*****
Phew....That was how my day started! And ended with me typing the conversation and re-living it! :)
Saturday, 21 February 2009
Random Thoughts
I need to pen down my thoughts regularly if I have to do some serious blogging. Or else why waste cyber space?
Can cyber space be really wasted? The amount of data uploaded (or should it be 'scattered' since it is space?) online is un-imaginable. So where does this new space come from?
Talking about space, why do scientists look for life in the outer space? Isn't it a complete waste of time considering the situation we are now facing on Earth? True, I am not going to live long enough to experience the 100% melt-down of all the ice on the North and South poles, and true I don't care much about future generations when I yet have to achieve so many things in life, but I still feel that dealing with the situation at hand will be beneficial than looking for life or suitable living conditions for Homo sapien sapien in outer space!
"मैत्रेयी" "ऋचा" "आदिती" Look ताई, my devnagri fonts are working !! So happy :) Let me write ससा for you :)
Can cyber space be really wasted? The amount of data uploaded (or should it be 'scattered' since it is space?) online is un-imaginable. So where does this new space come from?
Talking about space, why do scientists look for life in the outer space? Isn't it a complete waste of time considering the situation we are now facing on Earth? True, I am not going to live long enough to experience the 100% melt-down of all the ice on the North and South poles, and true I don't care much about future generations when I yet have to achieve so many things in life, but I still feel that dealing with the situation at hand will be beneficial than looking for life or suitable living conditions for Homo sapien sapien in outer space!
"मैत्रेयी" "ऋचा" "आदिती" Look ताई, my devnagri fonts are working !! So happy :) Let me write ससा for you :)
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