Paes in the line of fire
February 25, 2008
The latest controversy to hit Indian tennis is getting bigger with each passing day. Ergo decided to take a step back, and spoke to former players in order to get some perspective on the sordid affair.
“In 1999,” says former India player and Davis Cup captain Jaidip Mukherjea, “when I was the non-playing captain something similar happened. For reasons unknown Leander wanted to see the end of me and he spoke to then AITA supreme R. K. Khanna about it. Well somebody told me about it and I stepped down.”
Since then Mukherjea has stayed far away from the Davis Cup squad and busied himself with his own academy and also as the tournament director for the WTA Sunfeast Open. But he knows Prakash Amritraj and Rohan Bopanna well and believes there can be no smoke without a fire. “They are nice guys. I don’t think Prakash or Rohan will do something so dramatic if everything was hunky-dory.”
What impact this imbroglio might have on India’s Olympics prospects – will Mahesh Bhupathi still team up with Leander Paes? – is hard to gauge.
All-India Tennis Association (AITA) selector, Akhtar Ali tries to reach out to both sides: “This is a very unfortunate incident with the team divided in two camps. I think both Leander and Mahesh (Bhupathi) should show some maturity and think about Indian tennis. It’s very important for us to beat Japan next and also to do well at the Olympics. Fights won’t help us.”
Ali however minces no words in criticising Amritraj and Bopanna. “A few weeks back they were saying Leander is the best captain,” he says. “And now you were kept out for one match and you speak against the captain. I agree Leander shouldn’t have criticised Prakash in front of the media. But he is like that, not diplomatic, too emotional when it comes to playing for India.”
He is supportive of Leander’s decision to field Prakash for the deciding rubber. “I think Somdev Varman is not a great grass court player. But he had the element of surprise and it made sense to bring Prakash all fresh for the deciding rubber. Everybody knew the tie would be decided on the last day. But I think Leander could have talked about his broader plans with Prakash before.”
Ali along with AITA secretary Khanna is getting in touch with all the players concerned and is trying to reach a compromise.
“We will talk to the boys and will also encourage them to have a discussion or two amongst themselves. And then we will take a decision after due consideration in best interests of Indian tennis,” Khanna says.
Davis Cup coach Nandan Bal, however, distanced himself from the whole controversy. “Some of the players have complained, but I don’t know what their problems are. It’s between the players and let them sort it out. I just hope they sort it out quickly,” Bal said.
Meet Visionary Entrepreneur Tanya
February 24, 2008
Define ‘Visionary Entrepreneur’: A DJ who joins an events management company, finds it in a mess, fires five people in a month, works for two years as a partner, breaks off to
successfully start one on her own. That’s Tanya Kothari for you. Visionary Entrepreneur is what her business card reads.
Tanya started Kaleidoscope in 2005 by planning thematic birthday parties and weddings,
and has now taken up organising corporate events full time. The confidence and enthusiasm she exudes is proportional to the experience of having organised more than 300 events backing her, and an impressive clientele including Wipro, Marg Constructions, Cannon, Club Mahindra, Shree Temple of Gold and SKC. “Corporate events are less stressful,” says Tanya who now works with partner Ashok Kumar.
“Corporates don’t negotiate over every rupee and the budgets are big.” Though her first
ever experience at organising an event was I-don’t-want-to-remember the birthday party, her first corporate event – a family get-together for Microsoft employees –was definitely worth remembering.
According to Tanya, the most essential aspect of organising any event is “up to the mark
planning”. She spends a majority of the time in precisely planning the event and the
execution, she feels, naturally falls in place. For example, Tanya took just two days to
organise Wipro’s annual cultural fest for its 2500 employees in Chennai.
Efficient manager
Her choice of profession, she says, requires a lot of patience and the need to feed
everybody’s ego, especially being a woman. These along with miscommunication are what sow the need for efficient crisis management. She also receives mental support from her mother Kiran, financial support from her father D.D. Kothari and professional support from her business partner Ashok. “My siblings are my best friends,” says the 25-year-old. So, what is the result of the endless planning, execution, client meetings and vendor bookings that make up a typical work day for Tanya? It’s all the photographs with cheerful faces and ‘thank you’ notes from happy clients put up in her office.
(If you are an entrepreneur with a successful business model or know one, write to us at
firstinnings@goergo.in)
Too good for the critics: Roadside eatery 1
February 19, 2008
Starting this week, Ergo brings you one roadside eatery each week.
Bombay Lassi is the best kept secret of Ellis Road. Located just behind the Devi Theatre complex, the shop does brisk business selling sweets and savouries hot off the kadaai, to eager customers whose day is not complete without a hot and syrup-dripping gulab jamun.
For your sweet tooth
With pocket friendly prices, students and young professionals throng the place loading up on their lines of hot jelabis, which are as much in demand as their famous gulab jamuns. The gulab jamuns are palm-sized, served warm any time of the day and cost only Rs. 6 each. The jelabis, with the exact ratio between crisp and soft, sour and sweet, are nothing short of mouth-watering.
The sweet lassi, special lassi, basandhi and halwas complete their offerings. Their thick and yummy basundhi is the addition which makes their special lassi a favourite among the customers stopping to cool off on a hot day.
Spicy treats
In the savouries section, their samosas and kachoris disappear no sooner than they make it out of the frying-pan. The huge crowd in front of their store blocking the traffic during the lunch-hour speaks for itself. This roadside eatery has been around for many years now. Originally named Brijwasi Lassi, the current owner who took it over 15 years ago, renamed it Bombay Lassi. It has been a landmark ever since.
Drawback
The access to this eatery is a little tricky; one has to take the circuitous route through The Asian College of Journalism, if the short-cut gate behind the Devi complex is closed
Girl Power Incorporated
February 17, 2008
They set up shop at every major festival in the city, selling under a shamiana their intricately carved bags, kurtis and handicrafts. They distract crowds coming to shop at Isphani Centre with their wares sold at earthly prices.
With 19-year-old S. Madhumitha as Chairperson and six young and dynamic girls constituting the Board of Directors, the team would easily qualify as the youngest public listed company. The initial capital amounted to Rs 25,850. Investors would kill for a slice of Akriti Pvt Ltd.
Wondering why you missed buying scripts of this company? It’s because Akriti Pvt. Ltd. is run by 13 final-year students of the department of Corporate Secretaryship, MOP Vaishnav College for Women. They run the company like any public-listed company – there are 197 share holders; certificates and dividends are issued to the holders – except the venture is being run on a mock basis with members (teachers and students) restricted to the college. Floated in September 2007, the initiative was started as part of the People Practice initiative of the college to develop entrepreneurial skills.
Honing creative skills
“Akriti - Kreativity at itz best” is driven by a simple objective: buying and selling traditional merchandise. In college they undertake jobs like designing a simple kurti or beautifying a 20-yr-old wedding saree with stone work – all at a reasonable fee. “We do maximum business during festivals, when we put up stalls and sell our trendy wares,” the team say.
“In fact, our college students have stopped shopping at Pondy Bazaar as the wares sold by us are very competitive,” says Neeru B, CEO of the company. Akriti recently ventured into event management. “Our first assignment was at CK Ranganathan’s house where a party was hosted for 110 guests by the Rotary Club. Right from finding the right caterer to decorating the home it was a real experience,” recall the budding entrepreneurs.
All in the game
What do they consider the most enjoyable part of running Akriti? “The board meeting,” they agree unanimously. From screeches to petty fights, the girls have their fair share of fun and laughter, which they allude to on their blog (www.bcsakriti.blogspot.com). The girls also earn a monthly salary of Rs 200, which they moan about, good-naturedly: “It is just enough to pay their mobile bills.”
The team will soon graduate from college and while they have to leave Akriti behind, they are making sure their juniors learn the ropes of entrepreneurship well.
(If you are an entrepreneur with an successful model or know one, write to us at firstinnings@goergo.in.)
Anjathey : A review
February 17, 2008
Mysskin’s Anjathey would have been entertaining and even engaging, had the director decided to chop off an hour of reel. With the film stretching past three hours, the director loses your attention halfway, and the predictable storyline – about police, fear and bad men – encourages you to keep fiddling with your cell phone.
Diverging paths
Sathya (Narain) and Kirupa (Ajmal) are childhood friends who part ways when Sathya wins, through deceit, the Sub-Inspector job that the latter has been diligently training for. Though Sathya eventually gets his act together, it is too late to save his depressed and disillusioned friend who wanders down a different path.
M.S. Bhaskar, who shines in a serious role as the hero’s father in the first half of the film, is wasted in the second. Vijayalakshmi, the heroine, neatly portrays a girl caught between her bother Kirupa and Sathya, her secret love.
Surprise package
Prasanna who plays a rapist-kidnapper is the surprise package in the movie. He has likely cast off his chocolate-boy persona for good with Anjathey. When he gets shot in the nether regions, the audience can’t help but cheer, even if they are sincerely looking to get out of the theatre.
P.S. I Love You : A review
February 17, 2008
Though fans of the Cecilia Ahern’s book ‘P.S. I Love You’ have been complaining about the movie adaptation and the changes it necessitated, it does not change the fact that it is one of the few quality feel-good films in the recent past. Amidst the flurry of action-adventures, dark dramas and dude and chick-flicks, ‘P.S. I Love You’ breathes a whiff of fresh air into the movie-going audience.
Casting magic
Hilary Swank with her two Academy Awards is hardly an actress one would associate with romantic comedies. But, once one actually sees the movie, one concludes that casting magic has happened. Hilary comes to life as the newly widowed heroine of Ahern’s novel, Holly Kennedy, and is the perfect foil for actor Gerard Butler’s Gerry Kennedy who communicates with his wife from beyond the grave through letters and recorded messages that he left for her before his death.
The movie shows Hilary’s character slowly progressing from the grieving widow who stays shut in her apartment for weeks, back to the vital young woman eager for life before she met her charming Irish husband. And how she stumbles and rises up again with the help of her friends and family and even her hopeless one-night stand lends for many a funny and thoughtful moment.
Phoebe as Denise
Casting is the main reason this movie rises above the average. Each actor fits his or her role to the ‘T’, especially Lisa Kudrow as Hilary’s flaky friend, who is back in a Phoebe-like character, much to the audience’s delight. Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Harry Connick Jr. charm as the other Irishmen charmers who make a mark on Hilary’s catharsis.
P.S. - This movie is good time-pass.
Break-up Gurus
February 15, 2008
As Chennai’s Romeos and Juliets exchange roses, chocolates and gifts as a token of their love, scheming villains and opportunists lurk in the alleys, as they chalk out plans to separate Cupid-struck souls. Babas and Ammas who claim to provide `magical remedies’ to separate lovers do flourishing business, as believers throng to them in the hope of saving their misguided loved ones.
These break-up gurus operate across religions; hard cash is their only deity.
Sunitha (name changed on request) a 55-year-old housewife from Ayanavaram, recently contacted a Masayak (magician), who advised her to place a ‘purified’ piece of iron inside the pillow that her daughter regularly used. “I was also asked not to give non-vegetarian food to my daughter. Miraculously, it worked in 10 days. My girl broke loose from the relationship with a boy in her office and now she is happily married,’’ she reminisced.
Ergo decided to investigate this practice, and took a fabricated grievance to an elderly Masayak in Triplicane – a black magic practitioner who claimed to have orchestrated many splits at the request of their families. He must have been in his 60s; he had a flowing beard and his head was covered in a scarf. “Just 15 days and the boy or girl will simply walk out of the relationship, no matter how strong it is,” asserted the Masayak. “It’s mostly the girl’s side who opt for my services,” adds the old man who charged a fee of Rs. 500 for one sitting.
The sitting
After a short ceremony, during which he read out loud from a religious text, the magic man handed to us a folded piece of paper that he said contained some sugar mixed with prayer offering, with instructions to mix it in the girl’s early morning coffee. We were asked to come back after 4 days to collect a ‘thagadu’ (a metal plate said to be effective after a pooja on it) which was to be secretly buried outside the girl’s home. The man asked us to leave after assuring us that the girl would ‘snap the relationship’ – notwithstanding the fact the alleged girl did not exist.
The self-proclaimed magicians operate in different pockets of the city, cashing in on ignorant and helpless people who take them for real. The religious ceremonies often differ from practitioner to practitioner. The job usually takes three sittings.
It is not just mothers like Sunitha or other people from that generation who opt for these black magic practices; some young men also seem to go for voodoo sittings to get together with their lady love.
Chennai-based psychiatrist Dr V. Muthukrishnan of Apollo Hospitals, condemned the practice as exploitative. “People are so easily manipulated by these so-called magicians. Splits between such couples sometimes occur naturally, or more frequently, because of parental pressure,” he said.
Valentine’s Day: Plans of Chennai celebrities
February 14, 2008
Valentine’s Day means many different things for the movers and shakers in Namma Chennai. These work-stressed individuals hardly have time away from work. So, it is matter of squeezing in a few quality hours for St. Valentine amidst hectic shooting schedules for movies, television, modelling and marathon script writing and story discussion sessions.
Paloma, VJ, SS Music
No ruffles and lace for this girl.
“It is very easy to get mushy and all romantic about Valentine’s Day. But I cant stand that kind of mush and gush. If a guy is into all that, I will be –‘You have got to be kidding me, right?’ types. Only thoughtfulness matters for me. I will probably have a fuss-free dinner and quite conversation. That is how I celebrate Valentine’s Day.”
Gibran, VJ, SS Music
Teenage heartthrob Gibran is popular amongst SS Music fans and Theatre aficionados in Chennai.
“I am very single right now,” he says , “So it is a dry Valentine’s Day for me,” he laughs.
“But I am doing a whole bunch of Valentine Day shows at work. I am chaperoning couples, helping them get their dream date, basically playing cupid and bringing couples together. It is a lot of fun.”
Medha
Model, winner of numerous beauty pageants, MBA graduate and VJ
“I will be working this Valentine’s day,” said a rueful Medha. “But in an ideal situation, I would be hanging out with friends and having fun,” she says.
When asked about current and old crushes when she was studying, she says, “I studied in Church Park and then in Ethiraj College. Both girls-only places. When I did my MBA at the VGP School of Management, there were very few boys, and even the ones that were around, ran on the sight of girls. What to do?” she laughs it off.
What about the men she works with? All the gorgeous male models. Hmmm.
“When I entered modelling, I decided that I won’t get involved with the men I work with. So, no awkwardness when I go to work.”
“Very boring life I lead yaar,” the rueful laugh again.
Lekha Washington
Another person who is working away on V-day. A National Institute of Design product, and former SS Music VJ, this ‘It’ girl is currently shooting for Jayam Kondan with Vinay.
“I am waiting to meet the love of my life. Even then Valentine’s Day would be just another day for me, because I think everyday ought to be a special day for love. I would spoil him rotten everyday.”
Sunil Vishnu. K
Actor, director and co-founder of Evam.
Sunil or Shoosha, as he is fondly called by his friends, laughs, “I am not a very Valentine’s day person. Maybe because it’s also my birthday.”
Still, what are you planning to do?
“My friends always plan a surprise party and I always find out what they are up to before I am supposed to. So maybe this year they will actually manage to surprise me,” the signature cackling laugh again.
“I think amidst all the stress of day to day life, Valentine ’s Day is another day to de-stress and celebrate the life that we are blessed with. Don’t know how much celebration I am going to do, because I will be in Hyderabad to do our play Art two days after Valentine’s day, so will be busy with planning and packing.”
Trisha
Most sought after actress ruling roost in Kollywood and in Tollywood.
“I will be in Hyderabad, shooting for Bujjigadu with Prabhas under director Puri Jagannath this Valentine ’s Day. Frankly speaking, my valentine is a very cute Chihuahua pup who is starring with me in this film. His name is Chotu and he actually belongs to Director Puri, who got him from Bangkok. Chotu is very attached to me and so tiny, I carry him around in my handbag all the time. I love him so much that I want to get one pup for myself.”
Valentine’s Day plans?
“I will be going out with all my friends here in Hyderabad on Valentine’s Day,” says this single girl.
Chowrasia eyes European Tour
February 12, 2008
India discovered a new sporting hero last Sunday. Playing against ace golfers like Ernie Els and Jyoti Randhawa, S. S. P. Chowrasia, 29, pocketed his first European Tour title at the Delhi Golf Club.
When Ergo reached Chowrasia on his cell-phone late on Monday night, he was in Kolkata riding the euphoria.
His rise to prominence is an intriguing story. Chowrasia’s father worked as a green-keeper at the century old Royal Calcutta Golf club (RCGC) and the family lived a stone’s throw away from the course. Now, even though they have moved to a 650 sq. feet apartment close by, things have remained more or less the same for this former caddie.
“I took up golf when I was 12-13 years,” he said. “My stint as caddie helped me a lot. I used to practice late at night and before dawn break, before the day’s action. It still remains the same for me. I am the same person and I would like to keep my humble lifestyle.”
Chowrasia has made progress since earning the dubious nickname, ’bridesmaid’, for his repeated failures on the final day of tournaments despite leading the field in early rounds. His world ranking has moved up by nearly 150 places to 161. “I am greatly indebted to RCGC for all the support and it feels great to be back here in Kolkata after achieving something so big,” he says. “But now I want to concentrate on the European tour. I need half a million dollar to sustain myself there. I have got a sanction till 2010 and I am very excited,” Chowrasia said.
Chowrasia, who has won eight titles so far, has decided to take a three-week break, and will next travel to Malaysia for the Johnnie Walker Open. A big fan of Tiger Woods, Chipputsia (as he is fondly called) wants to dedicate his win to Neel Low, a member at RCGC, who gave the young golfer his first golfing set.
“It is easier for a caddie at the RCGC to do well as a player. The club members are always supportive and if one plays well, he will come up triumphant. I want to help everyone who wants to make it big in golf,” he said.
Turning to the future, Chowrasia said he was looking forward to playing with Woods. “He is my inspiration. I want to play with him and ask him about ways to keep your cool in the final rounds.”
The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
February 12, 2008
A.M. Malathi once approached a detective agency to investigate a sub-letting property dispute her father was involved in and then ended up chipping in for the investigation. Interest turned to profession for this Engineering graduate when a few years down the line she oversaw the setting up of Malathi Women Detective Agency.
“It’s like an all-women police station – we have both men and women working here. We called it a women’s detective agency because we wanted to make female clients more comfortable. A lot of them have apprehensions approaching detective agencies as there have been several instances of blackmail,” says Malathi.
Besides heading the detective agency in Mandaveli, Malathi also plays an active role in Star Detective Bureau of India, started by her husband Arul Manimaaran in 1989.
Cases range from pre and post-matrimonial investigations, keeping a check on troublesome teenagers, to insurance investigation, embezzlement and industrial espionage. Where needed, counselling is provided.
Now that the wedding season is on, people seeking information on prospective brides and grooms come pouring in. “Earlier it was just girls’ families. Now NRI grooms, without the knowledge of their parents, approach us for details about a girl’s background,’’ says Malathi.
With exam time approaching, teenagers showing sudden indifference and behavioural changes will also be investigated at the behest of apprehensive parents.
Stalking isn’t an easy job. “There are some clients who start investigations on their own. They’re not professionals and end up raising suspicion. When their sleuthing goes nowhere, they approach us, without informing us about their preliminary work. So the moment we step in, we’re caught,’’ Malathi says with a smile.
“Some even summon the cops. We’re familiar with the policemen, as we sometimes help them with cases. When exposed, we try to wiggle our way out by cooking up a story,’’ she says.
Clients are normally asked for a 21-day period. “As most people are engaged in work on weekdays, any deviation from regular behaviour is noticeable only during the weekends,’’ explains Malathi. There is only one rule. “Never reveal the client’s name.”
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