KNPH - 20 year review

Happy New Year. 2020 ! Well, who would have known ? Time does fly by , doesn’t it. As Ferris Bueller adviced, life is fast. If you don’t pause once in a while, you could miss it. Or something of that sort.

Now I really did not want to start this new year discussing a movie. But I too, sadly , am running out of time. A tonne of things happening in my life, but no time to really discuss it, contemplate it. Today, while in the gym, all of a sudden, I felt like listening to some old tunes. I have been thinking of my younger days for some time now, ever since this new year. Oddly, I thought of looking up old hindi music, a genre which I totally avoid nowadays. The hindi movie and music industry is garbage these days. And my search for hindi movies landed on Kaho Na Pyaar Hai. Now at the time, I did now know that it came out 20 years ago on 14th January. I found that out later in office. What a coincidence !

On hindsight, it is amazing how positively this movie was received in its hayday. Today, the absolute cheesiness and pothole size plot holes are obvious. But back then, it seems the world’s largest democracy did not care about these things. Back then, they got something they have wanted for long, but never got to vote about. 3 hours of feel good,  movie time, with good sights and good music. Some of the songs still hold up. But the movie itself does not.

Like swiss cheese, the movie is riddled with clichés. The whole double role story, rich girl – poor boy track(second time the guy is rich too), the girls father is a bad guy, so he arranges for the boy to be killed, he serenades her with songs, he has a loyal and shorter sidekick, and a kid brother who is too young, all her friends are ok with him, she has a rich cousin in NZ who is best friends with the rich double role guy, she also has a rich male good friend but never sees a romantic relationship with him, the rich desi in NZ has never been to India, but speaks hindi & urdu without any foreign accent, sings hindi songs, they are so rich that he never has to work, he just rides around on big bikes and cars, he goes to India to find bad guys and all its dangers,and gets shot right at the airport !, finally beats up all the baddies and decides to return with the kid brother, and she finally falls for his looks again.

The End.

If released today, a movie like this would have bombed. Hands and feet down. But this was 20 years ago, so the audience and critics lapped it all up. Me too. The songs in the movie ruled the charts, people got some new dance moves, and all the cheesy dialogues, and the nation got a new actor they began calling the greek god.

It would take Hritik many more years , and countless more movies to properly act in character, and I think that movie was Jodhaa Akbar, when he finally learnt to and spoke bespoke urdu ! I now read that the movie itself won so many awards that it entered some record books. For what, you ask ? For serenading viewers and critics aside.

Those were truly fun times. We are all equally guilty of eating into the chocolate hero movie. In a cheesy movie.

And a part of me is still there.

PS: Sample plot hole: In India, everyone already has cellphones. Mallik and Sirjee converse on cell phones. In NZ, Sonia’s cousin, Neeta, has to get out of her convertible to go to a red phone booth to call home. So she leaves her car on the main road ! It is at this time that Raj comes by without wearing a helmet.

Things will be allright

 

Time flies.  Even if Einstein had not discovered relativity, time has a funny way of passing by at different speeds. Faster , when you least notice it. Slower, when you really take notice. I caught myself sneaking up on the years today, when  I looked at the calendar. 2020. That is a funny year. When the year matches its century. How many years have passed since the various milestones in my life ?

It is now 15 years since I left college. And 19 years since I left high school. Twenty years into the new millenium, the new century. I try to go back and remember what I my hopes and aspirations were, all those years ago.

Twenty years ago, I didn’t have the slightest idea what I wanted to become in life. Sure, I wanted to become an engineer, but that was only because everyone else was doing it, and because I liked computers. But I honestly could not foresee  where that career choice would take me. And it was the same state of mind for everyone else in my class.  We were all confused and lost. Will this IT bubble last ? How long should a doctor study ? What are my changes in finance ? My parents want me to get a government job, but I want to travel the world. Is it too late to change my stream of study ? None of could see our futures, excep maybe a few years. Hmm..I wonder what happened to them ?

I still stay away from social media. But I try to hunt everyone else down. What happened to the brightest, smartest minds of my class ? Well, most of them have become far more successful than me , and have ended up in different parts of this world. Some have joined dream technology companies in the great mecca of such companies, the USA. Others have become experienced and respected doctors, and have saved countless lives since. The dumbest guy in my college year, who could not even write the simplest computer program is now a project manager for a top indian IT firm. Turns out anyone can become a PM, if you can just get others to do all the work.

The smartest girls in my class ? Well, most of them have quit jobs, and are now stay at home moms. But I guess they only did it because thats how far the industry let them proceed. Many of them have become teachers , and are now teaching the next generation of aspiring students.

And some others, the back benchers of our classes, have defied their teacher’s expectations and have now become successfull leaders and business owners. It took them a while to find their footing, but better late than never. A few of us where so bad at studies in college, but they then went on to do their masters, the desire to study was rekindled when they passsed out of that god forsaken undergratuate college we went to.

I now see a younger generation of students , giong through the same phases that I went through, decades ago. Many of them enquire about my supposedly successful career. And hope for some advice. Should I take up engineering  , they ask, or medicince ? Should I go abroad for higher studies ? Doe IT really have a future in this age of automation ? I am a budding youtuber, should I drop out of college ? Should I go into manamagement and finance ?

All I can tell them is,  that they will find their own way. Life is a series of struggles, its not always smooth. Had it been so, it would have been very boring. The thrill of life is not knowing the future.  And life has a funny way of being allright. Its all right to pick the wrong subject, today a student has more opportunity to change streams. Its all right to fail a subject, as long as you learn from that mistake. There are plenty of colleges in India to go for higher studies, but if you can afford to go abroad, then do that, by all means. That is going to add so much more your experience and learning. College is important.

Never think of dropping out. None of the education tests can predict your future for you, most of them failed me when I tried them. Many who cleared the tests, failed later. But then got up again. Many who flunked upfront, later went on to find their calling some place else. The world has so much to offer, if you are willing to learn. Don’t worry,

Things will be allright.

 

Super 30, and the Indian dream

There is no denying that education is an important and un-avoidable part of modern, human society. It is a human right, and access to education is essential for emancipation.

I recently came across a series of video documentaries on Super- 30, and education movement spearheaded by a certain Anand Kumar, who has helped thousands of Indian students change their lives. In order to do this, he has set his sights on the IITs, the highest institutions offering engineering education in India, and runs coaching centres to coach high school students to 'game' the IIT test system. Students who are able to 'crack' these tests get to join India's premium engineering colleges, paving their way to a well-paid job, and successful lives afterwards. Instead of being overambitious and enrolling as many students as he can, Anand had decided on training 30, and only 30 students any given year. These would be the smartest, brightest and most hardworking students from those who apply for his unique course. Hence the term: Super 30.

The first of the documentaries was filmed 10 years ago and uploaded in 2008. Al Jazeera, tracked and followed the daily lives of around 5 of the super-30 students, and vigorously documented the lives of everyone involved. Not only the students and their teacher, but also friends and family of the students, and even the local police officers. The life of the students and their teacher is clearly shown to be in ruins, Anand gives his daily maths class in something that looks like a remnant of a workshop, and the 30 lucky chosen are given special coaching in a similar, separate enclosure. The parents are farmers, daily wage labourers, or stay at home housewives. Their surroundings may be dim, but there is optimism in the air. There have been no engineers or doctors in their families so far, and everyone has placed their hopes on the one child who has been chosen into the Super-30.

The students give the test, the results are announced. 29 of the 30 clear the entrance to IITs across India.

Fast forward 10 years now. The second documentary tracks three of the students who were documented earlier, to try and chart their success and live afterwards. It is mind-blowing.

Not only are they all living better lives, they only have a faint resemblance to their former selves. They are healthier, wealthier , and wise.

One of them, Raju, the son of a farmer, is now a software engineer living and working in the tech city of India, Bengaluru. Working for the offices of an American automobile company at the time of the documentary, he now speaks English fluently (all the boys spoke only hindi in the earlier videos), and travels abroad for work. He himself seems surprised on how the education he received changed his fortunes.

Alok, son of a labourer, is now working as an electrical engineer in the nation's powergrid. He could not get into IIT, but wisely picked up a course from NIT. He had to move out of his hometown , as local goons began extorting money from his family, as the son had become and engineer.

Jyotish, another one of the students, is doing well, but in a different direction. He dropped out of IIT, and found his calling in Economics, where he has a PhD. He now teaches , and is happy and content to be contributing to his people and country.

But no one changed their lives around as much as Pranav Prince, who now works full time abroad as a; wait for it..; management consultant ! In the first videos 10 years ago, Pranav was the brightest of the 30, and had scored highest. He said his dream was to become a scientist, and open a research centre in India, on par with NASA. That could have been the naïve child in him talking, because he has now thrown research out of the window, having discovered the perennial money spinner that is blue-chip management. He had caused quite a scandal to Anand 10 years ago, when he attributed his success to the coaching of a rival institute, and almost shutdown the super-30 program.

Access to the nation's highest engineering program changed these lives. Hundreds of thousands of youngsters have a similar story to tell, and many more are still being written. It is an empowering story of how sheer determination, and perseverance can positively affect one's future. My own story is similar, though I never even tried to get into IIT.

The IITs of India today produce the world's top engineers, who then go on to work of multinational companies around the world, though that was not why the IITs were setup in the first place. They were created to produce engineers for the nation, who would help develop India' future. A lofty ,well intended goal. It’s a shame that most students who get enrolled there do not share that vision.

Nevertheless, this story proves that education is possibly the only path to better futures, and permanent emancipation. And that is the Indian dream.

Kappa connection

I was in the local Indian store this week, and in the freezer section, saw a packet of..wait for it…tapioca ! Called casava in some countries, it is lovingly called 'kappa' and even 'kolli' in God's own. At one point, it used to be the food of the poor, who could not afford to buy rice. But today, it is packed, frozen and sent to practically every country to be enjoyed in its simplicity. And back in Kerala, it is now available in top hotels and restaurants.

What wonderful times we live in !

Which reminded me Kerala's long lasting connection with the tuber.  Visakam Thirunnal Rama Verma  ruled only for five years in the 1880s, fell ill and died at 48, relatively young per today's living standards. It was this king who introduced the vegetable to these shores. Tapioca or manioca was brought from South America as a viable alternative to tackle food famine. It was planted on the edge of Kawdiar palace surroundings and that area came to be known as Maracheeni veela. The dhobbie wash area and royal pond was in this region once uoat. Later became the first housing subdivision for government senior leaders and renamed Jawahar Nagar. The utility or some other documents still record it as marcheeni veela. Swami Vivekananda made his historic stay in Tvpm, speaking at this place. The combination of kappa cheeni tapioca with fish later emerged as a balanced nutritional option meeting protein and calorie requirements.

This is probably why none of the other south Indian states seem to have any recepies using the tapioca. It is best enjoyed simply boiled, with some fish curry. Kerala style fish curry.

1947 was a year of changes, and in south India, the kings and queens were being asked to give up their reign and kingdoms. Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bayi of Travancore was the last queen of that region of Kerala. While she served fried fish to her English guests, her cooks prepared and shaped kappa into an imitation, so she could eat keeping her religious beliefs !

How extraordinary !

But as recent as the fifties, there was a government initiative to introduce tapioca based western cuisine to the people of Kerala. While it was a famine which brought kappa to us, it was another famine which led the EMS Government of 1957 to rethink the kappa plans. At the time, Kerala produced a little less than half the rice it needed to feed its people.

The audacious plan was to start the production of tapioca based macaroni, yes the Italian food macaroni, to Malayalees. Originally called synthetic rice,  CFTRI in Mysore developed it as a remedy for rice shortage.

“The Institute has recognised the need to reduce the pressure on rice. One of the ways of doing it is by making use of tapioca… The Institute has begun making macaroni by mixing 60 parts of tapioca flour with 25 parts of wheat flour and 15 parts of groundnut flour (for protein)."

Predicably, the plan went nowhere. Because the people hated it. Thank goodness.  The communist government was ridiculed for introducing western food to the poor. Read this fantastic retelling of the great macaroni scandal.

So Malayalees today enjoy kappa in its truest, simplest form, without any western interruption.

Keep calm and eat kappa.

What was before USB ?

 

 

I recently had to upgrade to USB Type C. Due to a new phone. Which got me thinking, we are already at type C ? I feel it was only yesterday that computer users started adopting USB standard in the first place. So what was before  USB ?

 

Well, someone already made a video about it.

 

25 years of Doom

 

The ‘Doom’ in the title refers to the original computer video game released by the folks at iD software. 25 years ago, on December 10th, DOOM.zip was first published on the University of Wisconsin FTP server in December 1993. When the upload was complete, 10,000 people attempted to download the game at once, crashing the university's network. That game was the true push to the next generation of FPS games, moving away from fun to more darker genres. Every video game in use today has inherited or was inspired in some way to the original Doom.

I myself came across the game only five years later, given the serious lack of internet connectivity in India. People had to share the first episode of the shareware offline on floppy disks , and magazine CDs. The programmer in me was instantly hooked, more by the complex worlds created by the code on a 2d screen, than the actual game play. I knew immediately, I wanted to get into 3d graphics programming, and join the team of cutting edge , microprocessor system programming.

Years later, well, I am no-where in that area, although I do code. I now work in boring enterprise computing, using a fraction of my brainpower I used during my assembly language days in school. I did end up creating a 3d engine, using sectors for maps and perspective texture mapping, but I could not start a career into that area.

John Carmack is a computing god. And Doom is just one of the ways he pushed computing power of the 90s to its limits. Those days of efficient, system programming is long gone, and modern programmers don’t care about using as little memory as possible.  But if you are interested, you can read about the source code of Doom in a new black book.

Its only a matter of years before Doom will end up in the museum of computing history.

 

Vajpayee

 

A B Vajpayee was one of the most significant figures of post 1947 India. The media is paying tributes to what a great leader he was, and rightly so. But I will remember him for the Kargil war. It was a master-stroke which achieved dual targets. He was able to win India, and the world. In order to understand what happened, one only need to revisit the events during May 1999 on Wikipedia.

In May 1999, the Vajpayee led coalition government lost the support of AIADMK, and the central government lost majoriy, reducing to a caretaker status till the October 1999 elections.

So the government turned around and launched the Kargil counter-attack. All this time, there were insurgents entering the Indian side of LOC with Pakistan provided weaponary. The Indian army launched Vijay, to capture these insurgents. The war went on for two months, and India was successful in capturing back her LOC.

In October 1999, the BJP led NDA won a comfortable margin of 303 seats, which was a stable majority. That government lasted 5 years.

Till this point in history, Vajpayee was playing it soft with our immediate neighbours. Everyone remembers the bus trip to Lahore, and the Agra summit. So it rightly came as a surprise when he declared full on war with thy neighbour. In doing so, the projected the image of a newly strengthened nation of India to the world. And in the process, he won his country too.

I can never imaging anyone from Congress going that far.

The 21st Football-Acting Games

The Football-acting games is slowly and thankfully winding to its end. And what a spectacular show it was. Some of the best actors from international football teams have put up show a show, they leave actual actors in the dust ! As some might have expected, the top teams, the sure-shot winners have all been knocked out. And out there playing is a new breed of younger actors at the height of their games.

And I still don't get what the fuss is all about. For decades now, its not about how many goals a team can score. But how easily they can convince the referee of a foul play by the opposing team. How easily they can get a free-kick. Or a penalty strike. I am not a fan of the sport, but it has been hard ignoring it since 1997, when Roberto Carlos took that so-famous and un-expected goal from a free kick, 35 metres away from the post. Players have since figured out that with the newer , rounder and lighter footballs, it is better to just control it from a free kick and guide it into the box, then actually sweating it out on the field. Its a game of physics. And acting.

And while India is known for its movie industry, there seems to be a severe lack of actors on the field. While some actors have started playing cricket in the ICL, that is still cricket. India can only have a real shot at FIFA if they decide to take the acting games seriously, and focus on their craft (of acting), instead of actual sports. Or somehow come up with the money to host the games. You see, the host nation continue to receive and automatic berth.

Learn tumble diving from Neymar. Cry like Messi. And look good like that other Portugal player.

It was funny reading all the football analysis in leading Indian dailies. Young reporters giving sound advice like, this guy should have taken that side. The manager of that team chose the wrong midfielder. For a country which has never qualified for a FIFA cup, India sure has a lot of opinion about how masters should play their game.

But the games occasionally bring back memories. I was in college during the 2002 world cup. And got to observe the symptoms of football fever from close distance. The whole college was divided. Mainly into Argentina and Brazil fans. But also the occasional Portugal, or Germany fan. And as every evening, students would descend, without invitation, into homes of those who had television sets. Again, everybody had loud opinions. And it was the actors who won matches.  The dramatic dives would be laughed at during slow motion replays. How could the referee not call out that acting ?

We used to watch the match on grainy CRT televisions. It was summer, and hot and humid. And being Kerala, there were frequent power cuts. These usually resulted in a train of curses to the KSEB. There were no smart phones, so goals and movements were transmitted via short text messages to those who where travelling. I think there was some betting going on too, but I didn't see anyone losing money. After the matches, there were frequent replays, and excited news readers would relive the games through diction. And the next day, boy the next day, the newspaper would have a second round of explanation. With extra sheets for the games, football-watching-experts would dissect the match carefully, mansplaining how the match could not have ended any other way. Boys would get hold of different newspapers, and be sure to read every article essaying the matches. Sigh.

Now with only a few more games remaining, only the best actors/players are left in the game. The top contenders all being knocked out, it will be fun to watch rookies running the show. We Indians continue to watch it from the sidelines, as the greatest masters of the sport act it out.

I predict an England vs France final. :)

Throwback to the Satyam scandal

 

Remember 2009 ? Me vaguely. This was when smartphones were still only for the filthily rich, in countries with very high wireless speeds, orkut was the facebook of the time, and flipkart still sold only books. The tech industry in India was hit by a huge scandal that year. One of the more prestigious software services firm revealed that they have been cooking their account books for years, and was actually in massive loss. The Satyam scam was at the same time shocking and unbelievable, because the company had a rags to riches story and aleady has branches in many foreign countries and hundreds of clients. And I think it was also shameful, because the name ‘Satyam’ in hindi/telugu/(insert any south Indian language here) means ‘Truth’. Talk of punctured balloons.

I remember the day when the scam was revealed, mostly by SMSes and rapidly forwarded e-mails. Most of the engineers on the floor I think did not see the seriousness of the scandal, and were actually looking for a way to cash in on this in the stock market. You see, when the truth about the scandal was made public, shareholders began dumping Satyam stocks. Like garbage. People on my floor (looking at you, Ankit !) had plans to buy Satyam shares when I hit rock bottom, confident that the issue would be resolved in a few days and would pick up soon. Time enough to make some money !

Remember , this was all happening during the last recession. Engineers employed by Satyam began looking for jobs frantically, flooding jobsites with their resumes. Most were even willing to take a paycut just to move to a better job. Some took drastic steps. Even today people are hesitant to admit they worked for Satyam.

Anyway, I divert. The big question everyone was asking how come such a huge financial scam was hiddden. Surely there were multiple people in a co-ordinated cover up. Satyam’s books were audited by the …ahem…prestigious PriceWaterCoopers. Apparently they were auditing only the physical books the Chairman had specially cooked for them, instead of actually double checking with the banks.

Had this been any other country, the courts would have dealt out something in a matter of few days. Maximum a few months. But nobody is in a hurry in India. The court battles began running marathons, and justice was delayed. This week, more than 9 years after the scam, Indian courts have banned PriceWater from auditing any listed Indian company for two years, effectively affecting their direct revenue. This was in addition to who knows all the fines they will be charged.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has barred Price Waterhouse from auditing any listed company in India for a period of two years for its alleged role in the Satyam scam.The regulator had also directed the auditing firm to disgorge 13.09 crore along with 12% interest per annum since January 2009.In 2010, SEBI issued a show-cause notice to Price Waterhouse, among many other entities, after it emerged that the accounts of Satyam were falsified and inflated.

I was thanking my good fortune. When I was a fresh graduate looking for an IT job, I had attended a Satyam job fair in Kochin, Kerala, a few years prior. I had cleared all the rounds and was rejected by their HR-asshole in the last moment. Some of my juniors got through though. Had they selected me, I would have taken the offer and stayed employed with them in 2009, when all hell broke loose.

PWC had a nice run all these years. Meanwhile the chairman was pronounced guilty only in 2015, and Satyam was taken over by Mahindra’s software division in 2012.

When I joined there a few years ago in Bangalore, I could notice the older Satyam logo at multiple places in the campus. An old logo on a building was removed but grafitti remained. On stickers on old furniture and computer systems.

Its a scandalous past everybody just wants to forget. But the cases will still continue in Indian courts…

NEET problems - is just a repetition

Trouble is still brewing in the state of Tamil Nadu, this time due to NEET. This has now taken center stage over the longer running political turmoil. The NEET issue reminds me on the long standing ‘education-reformation’ problem going on the country. It started almost decades back, when I was still in school. Basically it has to do with truth that education is a fundamental right, but it is also a business. The government wants to teach everyone in the country for free, but it does not have the funds and power to do so.

The situation today is that only two groups of students can afford education – the extremely rich, or the extremely intelligent.

This leaves out a significant number of students out, mainly because the best education is always pricey. Even the gifted students need access to quality facilities and faculty to improve their scores. So that they too can move towards professional higher education, and better way of life after that.

In the professional education sector, there have two kinds of colleges for some time, the ones started and run by government, and the private institutions. Most of today’s reputed institutions were originally started by the government decades back, and have now earned a reputation of dispersing affordable , high quality education. The fees is heavily subsidized , students only need to worry about minor lodging fees. And students from the SC/ST reservation list received stipends. For this reason, such ‘government colleges’ have always attracted the most studios  or talented students. There are so few seats available, that only very few of the millions of students passing of high school are able to get into them. The rest have to settle for some kind of graduation, which may or may not fetch them a job. Or, if they can afford it, try and get into one of those thousands of ‘self financing’ colleges. But noting comes free at these colleges, the fees itself is extremely high.

The problem is compounded by the fact that although there is a central board of education in the country, most students study a course prescribed by the state they live in . This lead to establishing a central entrance test, where students from different education boards will have to attend and write a common test, and be graded solely on that result. The top government ‘free’ seats would go to the ones scoring the highest percentile, and the rest will just have to settle for one of the self-financed colleges.

As you can see, this whole system does not solve any problem at all. The problem is still present, but it has now moved from the high school marks to the entrance marks.  Only the smartest get in.

I was going through the initial phases of the government’s pathetic education reform during my college days. The government was largely deaf. And then, a student jumped to her death. This caused students to erupt in anger. Remember the Rajini suicide ?

On July 22, 2004, Rajani jumped to death from the terrace of the building which houses the office of Commissioner of Entrance Examinations, Government of Kerala. In the weeks that followed her death, Kerala had been in flames. In cities and towns, enraged students have gone on the rampage, attacking ministers, setting ablaze scores of government vehicles and ransacking offices. Violent mobs also targeted the banks since the Indian Overseas Bank had allegedly refused Anand the educational loan. The incident had brought to the fore the deeper malaise in the state's education system, particularly the recent mushrooming of self-financing professional colleges, of which Rajani was a student. These colleges had rejected the Government's plea to allocate 50 per cent of the seats to merit category. The Opposition points out that the exorbitant fees charged at these institutions make professional education impossible for the economically backward sections of the society. Though the statewide protests are led by students' unions and youth wings affiliated to the Left Democratic Front (LDF), even pro-BJP organizations like the ABVP have been actively involved. The embarrassment for the Congress-led ruling United Democratic Front was complete when its Kerala Students' Union joined the agitation.

More than a decade later, I am still reading about student suicides. About high fees. About the debate between strict and liberal grades.

NEET won’t solve anything. It is another revision and repetition of the same problem.

PS:I was lucky enough to get one of the last remaining free government seats at a dilapidated aided college. I got by somehow. In the later years I have realized that nothing I learned in college ever proved useful to me in my career.

Remember Winamp ?

 

Today I came across a little older article, documenting the demise of Winamp. Remember Winamp ? Awww..man. During the last decade , it was the default MP3 player installed on every Windows machine ! With billions of skins , visualizations and other add-ons, it made every other MP3 player look lame. There were skinning tools, which could be used to create custom skins from photos. There were even tools to automate and control Winamp via bluetooth connections. And then, Web 2.0 happened. And portable mp3 players (cd/usb). And at the end..affordable smartphones. People no longer turn on their desktops to listen to music. They just get it online, and stream it via modern HTML5 browsers. Can’t believe its been more than15 years since Winamp came out.

It was fun going back in time, and sad reading about how mis-management tool Winamp down.

 

Puttaakee puttakkee, karimeen puttaakkee

 

I miss the 90s again. Those were fun times.

Titanic continues to fascinate us

 

A hundred and five years ago, a mammoth shipped named the Titanic, struck an iceberg and sunk in the the middle of the Atlantic ocean. But even a century later, it continues to facscinate us. Albeit for different reasons. Today its aura is due to the 1997 blockbuster movie, which captured hearts and the box office. For me it is still hard to believe that this movie is twenty years old. First time watchers, even today, are sure to fall in love with the doomed couple and awe at the CGI in this movie. And don't forget the music !

Right up until its premiere on December 19, 1997, Titanic was expected to be the biggest disaster since the actual ship went down. (The CGI-laden movie, which was wildly over its original budget, got bumped from summer to winter.) Instead, the James Cameron film spent a ridiculous fifteen consecutive weeks at the top of the box-office charts, eventually blowing past Star Wars to become the highest-grossing release of all time, a record it held until Cameron’s Avatar displaced it twelve years later. Because of Titanic's unprecedented reach, its impact on popular culture was immediate and enduring. Not only did the film made household names of its young stars Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, it embraced marketing opportunities by packaging every possible aspect of the film for sale: the historical research, the legendary production process, the clothes, the jewelry, the music, the actors. And the film greatly benefitted from a new type of fan culture emerging on the Internet, one that allowed anybody, no matter how young or technology-challenged, to create a personal webpage documenting his or her obsession.

 

 

 

It is hard to believe that twenty years have nearly gone by since the release of James Cameron’s Titanic. The director already became famous by directing established low and high budget action films such as The Terminator and True Lies. But the Canadian had a keen interest in the famous oceanic tragedy that occurred in 1912 a couple of years before the creation process of the big blockbuster movie that cost in the region of $200,000,000 to develop.

The pre-release hype, at least in the UK, was quite minimal. But all that changed when the picture was unleashed!

Future movie stars Kate Winslet and Leonardo Dicaprio were still relatively unknowns. Winslet was born and bred in the UK in Reading. She had made a couple of British made movies but it wasn’t long before she was thrust into global stardom when she was elected to play Rose Dewitt Bukater, the troubled teenager who was engaged to be married to a millionaire, Cal Hockley who had a rather unsparing streak.

Dicaprio had previously got his taste for fame when he acted in Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet, a modern day telling of the famous Shakespeare play where two star crossed lovers meet a tragic ending. His first movie was Critters 3, the second sequel in the monster furball horror franchise. Before Titanic, Dicaprio had a tendency to pick roles that depicted challenges in relationships and life itself. They may not be everybody’s cup of tea but the now 42 year old actor was certainly on the right path if he wanted to showcase genuine acting talent.

James Cameron showed his attribute for persistence when he pitched the idea of Titanic to 20th Century Fox. They originally requested Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt for the role of Jack Dawson since Dicaprio was still quite unknown and was possibly seen as a financial risk. However, the director held out and won over the studio. The actual pitch itself, in Cameron’s own words was, “Romeo and Juliet on a boat.” Understandably, again, Fox was pessimistic but they gave him the funds to dive to the actual wreckage in the North Atlantic Ocean and grab some footage. During this time, he wrote the script and impressed the studio so much with what he produced and captured that they were eventually persuaded!

The lavish first class dining room, the grand staircase, the cabins and more were all recreated with uttermost accuracy. Even compact items such as dinner plates and breakfast bowls contained the White Star Line logo’s, just like they did on the original ship now more than a century ago. Special water tanks were built to simulate the flooding and sinking of the ship that fictitiously took place during the second half of the movie.

However, the film did not just depend on special effects to impress. The story of two people from two different classes of life coming together not only provoked the audience into caring for them, it was also the key to make people feel sympathy for the rest of the passengers onboard when they eventually meet their doomed fates. But did Jack have to die at the conclusion? Cameron seems to be of the view that killing off one of the main characters is necessary for maximum emotional impact, as proven when he did so for The Terminator and even the ending of it’s sequel in the “chain of death” moment.

Gloria Stuart provided the occasional narration in telling of the events, both authentic to the actual disaster and also for some of the movie’s more imaginary moments. If the ill fated fling between Rose and Jack was to make people care, then perhaps older Rose was the second piece of the puzzle in finalising the process in informing viewers of some of the facts about the sinking. One particular moment would be immediately after Rose makes rescuers aware of her existence and the movie fades into the present with older Rose telling of how many people unfortunately perished and were recovered. A perfect but profound moment.

When the film was released, it can be recalled that it seemed as if the world had gone mad for a sinking ship! Copious amounts of memorabilia were released for retail. Some of the most corny pieces were school bags, stationery and costumes. Then there were your usual t-shirts, lobby cards and posters. Reports of people seeing the movie more than once on the same day were apparently reportedly substantiated. The Titanic marketing machine was certainly a force to be reckoned with! Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On was a chart success although time has not been too kind to it. Even Kate Winslet, herself, has stated that she dislikes the song, even going so far as to say that it makes her want to “throw up.”

There really was not another movie out there back in 1997 to compete with it although ones such as Men In Black and the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies were successful in their own right. Titanic was in a league all on it’s own!

Depending on one’s point of view, Titanic has unfortunately, and fortunately, gotten the reputation over the years as a “chick flick.” It has also been so successful that it seems that there are certain people that hate it for hate’s sake. Let’s get it right, though.The film is not perfect! James Cameron usually had the assistance of others writing scripts for his films but decided to pen Titanic all on his own. And the faults evidently show themselves, including the trite dialogue. Still, the man proved that he is not one dimensional and can take risks and venture into territory not previously experienced.

Behind the (necessary) romantic aspect was a look at the contrast of two social classes of people and the treatment they received. And were perceived. Rose was somebody who was trapped, and forcibly so by a domineering mother, in a situation that she was blatantly not happy with. So not happy that the thought of committing suicide by jumping off the Titanic almost became a reality! On the other end of the spectrum, 3rd class ticket holder Jack was a happy go lucky type of chap who always had to fight to make ends meet, but at the same time had a heart of gold that was eventually recognised by Rose, who could not care less for materialism. Only the genuine love of another soul.

The second half of Titanic is anything but a “chick flick,” although females were, and are, inevitably drawn by Rose and Jack’s affair and the boyish good looks of Leonardo Dicaprio.

What of the movie’s legacy 20 years on?

The film no doubt still, and always will, retain the tag of ‘classic.’ The epic also inspired many to take an interest in the case of the 105 year old sinking of the ship that was claimed by the media to be “unsinkable.” A number of documentaries about it are often seen screen on television, at least here in the UK, covering a wide range of angles and going so far as to offer up different conspiracies regarding what caused the ship to descend into the murky cold waters in the early hours of April 15th, 1912.

James Cameron, himself, was inspired by his own movie to eventually take a deep (pun intended) interest in deep sea diving. He managed to capture footage with 3D cameras when embarking on a record breaking expedition in 2012. The last film he directed was Avatar, released in 2009. Directing still does not seem to be at the top of his list of priorities as of writing in 2017, although Avatar sequels have been mentioned.

Titanic was also given the 3D treatment and was re-released in cinemas in 2012, getting a 3D Blu Ray release shortly afterward although it is debatable as to whether the effort to convert it was worth it. Nevertheless, the re-release managed to rake in nearly $58,000,000 extra, domestically, after spending $18,000,000 for the conversion. It has been reported that the re-release made over $2 billion worldwide!

There have been a fair number of parodies and jokes aimed toward the movie that have been made and seen over the years, mainly directed at the well known “flying scene” and Jack’s venerable “King of the World” line. But it is all in good fun and contributes toward the cultural impact that the film has and probably always will.

Titanic is a timeless piece that inserted itself into that special category that only belongs to a select other few. In terms of filmmaking, it is something other filmmakers can look upon and feel encouraged to make the effort to reach heights they never have before. And some of the movie going public will always look at the film with despair.

JANUARY

January 1: National Geographic releases a collector's edition of its 1986 “Secrets of the Titanic” special on VHS.

Leonardo DiCaprio appears on the covers of People magazine and Vanity Fair.

 

Kate Winslet, break-out star, does a whirlwind TV post-release press tour, appearing on The Rosie O'Donnell Show … and Access Hollywood  and Entertainment Tonight ... and Good Morning America … and Oprah. Meanwhile, Leo DiCaprio stopped by Entertainment Tonight.

January 10: Saturday Night Live runs a sketch about fifth-class black passengers trying to evacuate from the Titanic, starring Tracy Morgan and guest host Samuel L. Jackson.

January 16: Entertainment Weekly editor (and future top editor) Jess Cagle publishes an anti-Titanic piece called "When the Ship Hits the Fan: Why I Hate Titanic."

January 18: Kate and Leo go together as "buddies" to the Golden Globes, where each is nominated. Neither actor wins, but Titanic takes home four awards: Best Drama, Best Director, Best Original Score, and Best Song. While accepting the Best Drama award, James Cameron snidely quips: "Does this prove once and for all that size matters?"

January 26: Deja Vu releases its dance remake of “My Heart Will Go On.” The peppy track peaks at number 69 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart on May 30.

January 31: Twentieth Century Fox estimates that 7 percent of all U.S. teenage girls have seen the movie twice.

FEBRUARY

February 1: Newspaper comic "Fox Trot" begins a weeklong arc about the mother's obsession with Titanic.

February 6: EW runs a cover story called: ”Titanic: How It Will Change Hollywood.” The author's conclusion: "And there it is — what may be the biggest sea change of all in Titanic-shaken Hollywood: the ascendancy of a new post-ironic, neo-romantic era of mainstream, big-budget filmmaking. Or, if you prefer, the return of schmaltz."

February 13: Fox airs the hour-long promotional documentary Titanic: Breaking New Ground that reels in 7.7 million viewers on a Friday night opposite the Winter Olympics and new TGIF episodes of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and Teen Angel.

February 10: Titanic receives fourteen Oscar nominations, tying All About Eve (1950) for the record.

February 10: Curly-haired smooth jazz saxophonist Kenny G releases an instrumental version of "My Heart Will Go On" as a promotion CD single. The following year, it is nominated for a Grammy in the Best Pop Instrumental Performance category, losing to the Brian Setzer Orchestra song “Sleepwalk.” (Celine Dion won Record of the Year for her vocal version, edging out Brandy and Monica, the Goo Goo Dolls, Madonna, and Shania Twain.)

February 10: Thirteen-year-old Edith Hoag-Godsey launches her Tripod page "Titanic Rules." Her profile specifies that she has already seen the film six (”6!!!!!”) times.

 

February 12: Celine Dion’s "My Heart Will Go On" breaks the record for most radio plays in a single week, with 117 million plays.

February 14: The movie scores the highest Valentine's Day grosses of all time: $13,048,711.

February 17: A collection of 32 telegraph distress signals from the Titanic, including one that says "we have struck an ice berg," sells for $123,500 at a Christie's auction.

February 24: Titanic beats out Jurassic Park to become the all-time leader in worldwide theater revenue. The film pulled in a total of $920 million internationally in its first ten weeks.

MARCH

March 1: Winslet appears on the cover of Rolling Stone. The accompanying profile, in which Kate talks about getting her period on set ("If it suddenly looks like Jaws, it's my fault") and trading sex tips with DiCaprio, is described as "the last non-star interview she gives."

March 1: Kate and Leo are the "most-searched Oscar nominees on Lycos."

March 6: Following Leo's Oscar snub, more than 200 fans call and e-mail the Academy to demand a recount. ''The calls did not just come from teenagers," says the spokesperson. "One older woman called and said the whole state of Florida was upset."

DiCaprio has moved on to promoting Man in the Iron Mask, but he still only gets asked about Titanic – much to the amusement of co-stars Gabriel Byrne and Gérard Depardieu.

March 8: Gloria Stuart wins Titanic's only SAG Award. (Winslet was also nominated.) In her acceptance speech, she says, "I've waited 60 years for a moment like this."

March 13: Celine Dion rides a boat on the cover of Entertainment Weekly and announces her plans to pursue an acting career. Also in this issue: the headline "Yoga Becomes the Latest Craze in Hollywood."

March 13: A British travel company called Wildwings announces that it is now booking Titanic-themed vacations, in which voyagers will travel 12,460 feet into the ocean in Mir submersibles to see the wreckage.

March 13: From a political humor page last updated on March 22, 1998:
Q: What is the difference between Clinton and the Titanic?
A: Only 200 women went down on the Titanic.

March 15: Nine books about the movie, the ship, or Leonardo DiCaprio make the top 25 best-selling books on the New York Times nonfiction list.

March 23: Titanic wins eleven of the fourteen Oscars for which it was nominated, tying Ben-Hur's record from 1960. The telecast is the most-watched ever, with 55 million viewers. At 3 hours and 47 minutes, it is also the longest. Some highlights:

March 23: Host Billy Crystal opens the ceremony on a Titanic set and sings about the film to the tune of the Gilligan's Island theme song.

James Cameron declares himself "king of the world" when he wins Best Director, endearing himself to nobody.

Madonna lauches a shot at the bow (at 2:35).

March 23: Accurately predicting Oscar night results, The New Yorker runs this cover.

March 26: Leo files a lawsuit against Playgirl for obtaining unauthorized nude photos of him. The magazine settles and the pictures are never published.

March 28: James Cameron attacks Titanic-hating L.A. Times critic Kenneth Turan in an editorial: "Nobody's interested in the vitriolic ravings of a bitter man who attacks and rips apart movies that the great majority of viewers find well worth their time and money."

APRIL

April 2: The J. Peterman Company, which is selling licensed Titanic film props and reproductions through its catalog, announces that they are back-ordered on their $198 Heart of the Ocean necklace. Meanwhile, Fox sues Ohio's Lindenwold Fine Jewelry, which has received "tens of thousands of orders" for a $19 knock-off called Jewel of the Sea.

April 4: Saturday Night Live turns the doomed boat into a chipper Disney character named Titey for an installment of "TV Funhouse."

April 4: Titanic ends its run at the top of the U.S. box office, after fifteen consecutive weeks at No. 1.

April 14: Celine Dion performs "My Heart Will Go On" at the inaugural VH1 Divas concert.

April 15: Thirteen-year-old Joey Russell makes national news when he sells his most valued possession, a 1912 postcard of the Titanic, to fund his friend's mother's cancer treatments.

An urban legend about a cursed mummy aboard the Titanic makes the e-mail rounds.

Apr 24: Tourists flood the removed Fairview Lawn Cemetary in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where 122 Titanic victims are buried. From an EW article: "Kayla MacLellan of Wellington, Nova Scotia, took her friends to Fairview for her Titanic-themed 11th-birthday party before they all headed to see the movie again. Two of the girls ran between the graves shouting, 'I'm the king of the world!'"

April 24: Leonardo DiCaprio is introduced on the cover of Entertainment Weekly as the leader of Hollywood's new "Frat Pack" (which includes Damon, Affleck, and … Van Der Beek).

Fundamentalist Christian group United Church of God includes an article called "Lessons from the Titanic" in its March/April newsletter. Excerpt: "This age is like the Titanic. We naively assume society to be unsinkable. Yet it is destined to go down. But we don't have to go down with it. By establishing a relationship with God and upholding the way of life He calls us to, we can locate a lifeboat."

MAY

May 11: DiCaprio is the cover boy for People's "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" list. Gloria Stuart also makes the list, and tells People that Hollywood beauty regimens have changed since the 1930s: "I don't even remember knowing about personal trainers. We played tennis on Sundays and went to Palm Springs and lay in the sun and swam."

May 15: Leo joins the grand Hollywood tradition and shoots a fifteen-second commercial in Japan for a $4 million payday.

J. Peterman releases its Spring/Summer catalog, offering reproductions of Titanic costumes like Rose's "jump dress" ($35,000, only one available) and the "heaven dress" from the last scene ($2,000, recommended for brides).

May 16: Conservative media group ChildCare Action Project declares that "there has not been a more subliminal, far-reaching theft of innocence of such scale and dimension in the history of childhood than Titanic!"

May 17: Titanic surpasses Star Wars to become the highest-grossing film ever, prompting George Lucas to take out a congratulatory full-page ad in Variety.

May 18: Opening of a People article: "Created at great expense and delivered with feverish hype, it may be the most remarkable thing ever to happen to romance. No, not Titanic; we're talking about Viagra, the sky-blue, diamond-shaped pill for men that treats sexual impotence."

May 21: Two feature-film Titanic parodies go into pre-production: Titanic Too — It Missed the Iceberg (set to star Leslie Nielsen) and Gigantic (about a ship that's two-and-a-half inches shorter than the Titanic). Both are dead in the water a few months later.

May 30: The MTV Movie Awards award Titanic Best Male Performance and Best Onscreen Duo, though it loses Best Kiss to The Wedding Singer. A highlight of the ceremony: Stiller and Vince Vaughn pitch a sequel to James Cameron.

May 31: Dave Barry publishes a humor piece containing the script to his own Titanic sequel.

JUNE–AUGUST

June 20: Ozzy Osbourne debuts his Ozzfest video intro, in which he pulls a Billy Crystal and gets swapped in for Kate Winslet via editing for the nude-portrait scene.

June 25: Dan Akroyd brags to People about his new film Pearl Harbor, saying, "It is going to be bigger than Titanic ... the biggest movie in the history of the film industry."

July 24: After nine rumored film leads (including American Psycho), DiCaprio announces that his next project will be Danny Boyle's The Beach. His salary, which was $2.5 million for Titanic, is now $21 million.

July 30: Leonardo DiCaprio pays a well-publicized visit to paralyzed teenage gymnast Sang Lang.

July 30: "Titanic: The Exhibition," featuring salvaged artifacts from the ship, debuts at Boston's World Trade Center.

August 16: The Family Channel premieres "Leo Mania," an hour-long documentary about DiCaprio's fan following.

Aug 21: Leslie Nielsen parodies the "King of the World" scene in the film Wrongfully Accused.

August 25: Back to Titanic, a sequel to the bestselling soundtrack album, is released. 

SEPTEMBER

September 1: The Titanic double-cassette VHS box set hits stores.

Blockbuster chains stay open until 2 a.m. in order to start selling at midnight. In Bay Ridge, a video store promotes the release with an 8-foot ice sculpture of the ship; in Dallas, stores offered a free rental to the customer who brought in the largest chunk of ice.

September 2: A Utah video store offers to cut the racy scenes from Titanic VHS tapes for $5. More than 50 customers take them up on it in the first day.

September 5: The Mariners' Museum in Virginia opens an expansion of its exhibit "Titanic: Fortune & Fate," which has been visited by 200,000 people since opening in January.

September 13: Katie Holmes shows off the trend in Titanic-inspired ladies' fashion with her cap-sleeved lace gown at the 1998 Emmys.

September 11: The Starr Report goes public, revealing that one of Monica Lewinksy's last gifts to Clinton was "a romantic note that she had written, inspired by a recent viewing of the movie Titanic. In the note, Ms. Lewinsky told the President that she wanted to have sexual intercourse with him, at least once."

OCTOBER–DECEMBER

October 30: Director Steve Oedekerk announces that filming is near completion on Thumbtanic, a Titanic parody in which all the characters are played by thumbs. (The 26-minute film doesn't see release until 2002.)

October: Galoob releases a limited-edition collector's doll of Rose DeWitt Bukater.

November 3: "James Cameron's Titanic Explorer," a three-disc CD-ROM reference guide to the ship's history, hits stores.

November 13: DiCaprio reportedly crashes Kate Winslet's wrap party for Quills, wearing a Dennis the Menace mask.

November: A series of Titanic trading cards is released in a limited-edition box shaped like a steamer trunk.

November 22: Celine Dion guest stars on the CBS drama Touched by an Angel.

December 6: The new Titanic Restaurant in London opens its doors for the Tatler magazine Christmas party.

The long-running Las Vegas burlesque show "Jubilee," which features a thirteen-minute dance sequence about the sinking of the Titanic, is now playing to capacity crowds.

December 28: People announces there are "more than 500 web pages" dedicated to DiCaprio. These are joined by the many sites with Titanic-inspired humor, poetry, fiction, passionate defenses, passionate takedowns, and art.

By the end of 1998, the name Rose has risen 100 spots on the Social Security Administration's list of most-popular baby names. Jack, Leo, and Kate also increase in popularity.

 

 

Ref

Ref

Its been 20 years!

 

10 years. Felt like 100

 

Today I reached another milestone. 10 years ago to this day, I had started (technically restarted) my career in the IT industry. But it felt like a hundred years.

And all these years later, exhausted, and after paying tens of lakhs in taxes, was it worth it ?

To some extend. But not completely.

I made some bad career choices over the years. Some bad financial choices too.

I could have done better. And better late than never.

So I am now going to start another chapter in my career and life soon.

Here’s to the next 10 years.

90s had some great movies !