The Stunt

You do something daring or unusual or dangerous and people say that you have pulled off a great stunt. There is this sense of positive emotion in that word when I look up the dictionary. But then when I look up a dictionary throwing up more meanings than just one, I get the feeling that there are shades of grey and sometimes its too cloudy for my liking.

For example, lets say in Live and Let Die, Roger Moore’s motor boat takes a huge flight from one part of the lake, crosses a road and then does a smooth landing on the other part of the lake and carries on as if nothing has happened. Now here, what’s real? That the boat took off and landed was real, but we all know that Roger Moore was not in that boat. That’s cinematographic license of misrepresentation but that is a genuine requirement. The movies are easy to refer to since that’s where most stunts are pulled off and it does not really affect us. But the example I gave was a real stunt, meaning the event had occurred but the character was misrepresented. But in movies you would also find stunts that in actual life could not have happened. For example like the one in Crouching Tigers and Hidden Dragon – the long steps or jumps in the air or walking in flight. That’s make-believe event but is also a stunt.

Going back to the meaning of the word, stunt is also defined as a make believe event, something that’s not true, It’s also described as an event that is used for publicity or advertisement. Nothing could be truer in real life.

In the Indian context you have the relay fasts when people go on hunger strike by rotation. So you could have breakfast, join up the fast and then have a sumptuous dinner afterwards!! Then there are these numerous Indians who go on fast but consume fruits and yoghurt during that period. Don’t fool me and least of all, your GOD if any!!!

People also get carried away. You would have heard of David Blaine the famous street magician. Now his magic is great. But then he decided to spend some time under water and then had to be hospitalized at the end of it. That’s a bad one, stunt I mean. But full marks on publicity.

Why celebrities, advertising and publicity is so important in normal life too. You have books on networking, self-advertising, positive perceptions and what not. All of them would teach you how to show your skin, smooth and silky albeit with make up on it. And the public laps that up too. In your neighborhood the community president is publicizing himself, in your social club there are fights before elections and there are campaigns. In the corporate hierarchy, intense games are being played. So therefore while there is definitely a degree of genuineness in all what is said and projected, there would be a lot of “stunts” put up for the benefit of the hungry public!!!

To give you an example, we have these MIS reports being churned out everyday. So while the data shows that a particular department is going great guns, the accompanying statement reflects the negative aspect of a problem with a daily achievement while overall they are tops. That’s a negative stunt? Then what about an Indian breaking up in Korean in a Conference Call in a multinational bank to get some pseudo kudos from a few Koreans while the other Koreans find it funny and stupid. When I counter the latter they say, can he participate in a dialogue,....if not lets not put up stunts!!! So there you are!! So while this bloke has been doing good work on so many things, they do not get highlighted.....but then he has to pull up a stunt to get some attention...and he gets it too.

So would you think that publicity at any cost works for us? It does temporarily and nobody can deny it. But as they say, someday the bubble will burst. The product has to function no matter what you promise. But to me that’s not the issue in question. Life is transient and is on the move. So would you keep waiting for the stunt to be uncovered on its own? Would you just take it lying down? Or this is the time for only stunts.

World Politics, economic growth, negotiations, sales, trade, policies, Gatt, Green Peace, are these all stunts? That’s for you to ponder?
I just need to worry about my next stunt – so that you may come back to this blog!!!! Sphere: Related Content

The Fourth Sun

Astronomy is not my forte and neither do I have any inclination. The fact remains that this is the fourth day I have been watching the Sun rise after the long lull of the sound of night!!

Today’s daily pressures have almost eliminated the pleasure of that fresh air in the park. We don’t see the first pink hues in the sky when the sun invites us to end the slumber we were in. The odd man out in the park doing some daily exercises, the cleaning guys picking up that last piece of garbage from the road, the night barmaids taking the morning bus back home, the road watering machines on the job. The green leaves of spring about to wake up and deal with the daily-polluted gases. But those are happening below on the earth.

But I am looking at the sky, my windows open, the pitch darkness slowly changing to ash grey beckoning the arrival of yet another day of existence. The hues of reds and pinks follow shortly while the sun is on its way trying to break through the barriers of the silky clouds. Sounds too heavy? Lets get back to more ordinary stuff.

I take a walk along the Buddhist Temple nearby and the excitement of calmness is something you have to feel and cannot be described. I can catch a few devotees doing there asanas in front of the imposing Buddha, I come back with some vigour injected and then I finally see the Sun in its morning splendour. The average common man of course does not have time to look up, due to economic pressures. He/she has to get ready for work and then catch a few winks while on their way.

For the fourth day today I am at work in the nights and this is going to carry on for a while. So its by default that I am awake during these precious morning hours. I don’t need the day…why can’t this just continue? Sphere: Related Content

Rambling On

A significant amount of time in our life is spent (wasted?) on returning favours of the wrong kind. The other day a few colleagues and me were invited over for a wine session. So one of my colleagues suggested that we should be going with something, it’s the first time he has called and so on and so forth. We carry for the host a bottle of wine!!! I was looking the other way when the transaction was taking place. Coming to think of it, this was an enlightening gesture. So next time when somebody calls me for dinner. The first thing I am going to do is find about the menu say steamed dim sums and as a goodwill gesture I would carry some from a local restaurant. That should be a good idea!!

So you get invited lets say to a birthday party. Now you can’t think of anything interesting. So you take along a “surprise” gift for the birthday “guy/gal”. You know the answer, its nothing but a Birthday Cake along with some candles!! The host of course has a big smile on his face. Does he have any other option?

Give and take is a good process that we should learn. The only difference is that we need to accept perhaps is that the person you give to, may not necessarily reciprocate appropriately. Your investment return will come to you from another source. The balancing is bound to happen, sooner or later. I am not sure of course on your agreement on this theory.

So we amongst friends have a good practice of going dutch in any activity we do. Individual consumption is not accounted for; rather the burden of the whole is divided equally. Every body is happy except that odd man out who never paid in a group earlier.

The other day we had gone for the Hi-Seoul Festival and though there were a number of programs we selected the Parade out of the lot. On a sunny afternoon five enthusiasts and two bored people landed up at Kwanghamun crossing to witness the action. It was a bright sunny afternoon and we were all charged up to see the colourful spectacle. The dancers, Harley Davidson bikers, the belly dancers, the comic artists, senior citizens, samulnori troops, they were all there. We were behaving like Press Photographers clicking our cameras in rapid succession. But two of us were absolutely disinterested in the proceedings and they left us sat behind on the wall with grim faces. One even put back his camera inside his bag.

This week is going to extremely busy and that’s how it has been since a fortnight now. In fact I am working on the weekends and looks like won’t have too much of sleep. My blogs too have been erratic due to the same reason and looks like its going to continue in this manner.

That’s about it for now. More next time, and see you soon. Sphere: Related Content

National Folk Village, Suwon (Seoul Vicinity)

National Folk Village (Seoul Vicinity)

We beat the weather forecasts and took a train down to Suwon as per our pre-planned agenda of visiting the National Folk Village there. We took a train that took about 20 minutes to reach Suwon from Youngdeungpo. We had the option of going in a Metro Train but we decided to take the Korail instead of Line 1. The morning sky was threatening to pour but nothing could deter us and for a change the Rain God was on our side in the wrong way; if you know what I mean.

The tickets were a bit expensive I thought and we had to fork out 14000 KRW (about 14 USD) for each of us. We meaning Bikram, Manoj, Anup, Bindu and Chikoo (the small cutie) were all excited about this rendezvous. The village was well laid out over a huge area. The exhibits were all life size. The farmers’ houses, the layouts, the gardens, the landscapes, they were all real! The added attractions were the performances. Seesaw jumping was quite enthralling, but more than that I enjoyed the “tight-rope walking”. The performer was excellent with his skill and antics that was followed by some equestrian feats. Now that we were hungry we reached the nearby village bazaar for grabbing some traditional type of eats. The bazaar was not only about food but it was also about crafts and souvenirs. Blacksmiths, goldsmiths, carpenters, painters, sculptors, they were all there displaying their respective prowess.

After lunch some of us tried out the huge swings and then we reached an indoor museum. Cameras were not allowed, but neither was I inclined to take any shots of the displays inside. We quickly finished this and somebody suggested that we should get back to the modern world. So off we went to the “amusement park” that was a separate enclosure inside the village. I was not really inclined to take any of the rides, and I sat down with a Coke to relax.

It was getting late and we still had to visit the World Fork Museum and we saw lifestyle exhibits of different countries, though India was missing in the list. The displays were elaborate but due to lack of time we just breezed past them to take our bus back to the station.

Oh I forgot to mention that the confusion of “L” versus “R” has made them spell the word “Folk” as “Fork”. The last piece of advice I would like to impart is that if you have the opportunity, do visit the Lotte World Folk Museum in Jamsil. The experience is going to be much better and that’s a promise provided you are really interested in some in-depth knowledge about Korean culture. Sphere: Related Content