NEET PROTESTS: BLIND GOATS WATCHING 3D FILM DURING POWER CUT

Hello World,

Image Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/rf/image_size_960x540/HT/p2/2017/02/06/Pictures/parents-protests-against-neet-examination_ff51c318-ec94-11e6-90af-e8d3e91f500c.JPG

With NEET protests gaining attention from the media and the public, I think, it is about time we discussed this issue in a relatively fair perspective than the ones being vomited into the public mind.

The administration at the centre has revised the entrance mechanism for medical courses and this has brought a new entrance exam based on a syllabus only a section of TN students study. Unfortunately, most of those who would otherwise qualify for a medical seat now stand disqualified because they failed the NEET exam. Clearly, what they studied for a year did not match what they were tested on the NEET exam.

The issue took a sharp left turn when Anitha, a 17 year old student from Ariyalur district here committed suicide. She had a good chance of securing a medical seat through the older system but with NEET in place, her scores were far too low and so went her chances of getting a medical seat.

As usual, the dumb ducks of this region started screaming and some have managed to coerce people into taking it to the streets in the name of protests. 

Some are screaming NEET should go. Some are screaming the administration at the state and centre must change.

What is appalling is the state of ignorance this community has been forced into, be it any social issue for that matter.

Here are the key questions that need to be answered before any solution for the NEET issue be designed:

1. When was the first NEET circular sent to the state administration from the centre?
2. Who received it [in the secretariat]?
3. Who was the NEET circular circulated/notified about [those who received a copy of it from the secretariat]?
4. Who gave the order to ignore the NEET circular based on which no action was taken until when the NEET protests started?

The central government is not the problem. The state government is also not the problem. However, the officers who received the NEET circular and the elected officials [ministers] who authorised the ignorance of the NEET circular are responsible for all the issues related to NEET.

As for the death of Anitha, the responsibility has to be shared by all of us in Tamilnadu as we had created a fake-protest atmosphere where not-protesting is seen as a shameful act and those who choose not to participate in protests are ridiculed for their disregard for social justice and democracy. She was a regular 17 year old girl. She was portrayed in front of the media and courts as ‘The Poor Dalit Girl from Ariyalur’. She was not part of a protesting group but she was made to be the front face of multiple protesting groups. The consciousness of being in the public eye and subsequent failure in the NEET exam [she scored around 76 out of 700, if I am not wrong] made her embarrassment many folds bigger than what it should ideally be. This is what pushed her to the unfortunate decision to end her life, not the central government or state government.

Dalits/Scheduled caste candidates have always been perceived and portrayed as freeloaders who gain out of reservations alone but when it came to NEET, where everyone gains, the ‘Poor Dalit Girl from Ariyalur’ became the symbol of fight against oppression. Out of the blue, all castes and communities went out the window and in came the fake #Tamilanda propaganda. 

The avenues under the state's control still face caste based discrimination and the NEET Protests are claiming medical admissions to be given to the same administrative set-up that has institutionalised corruption and caste based discrimination. The horrifying fact is that a dalit girl from Ariyalur was used as the protest mascot, the consequences of which forced her to end her own life. 

What frustrates me more is the idea that opposition and new/other political parties can deliver justice which is being vomited into the public’s mind via carefully designed paid news propaganda. All of a sudden, the anger over the ruling political party is turning into the fondness for the opposition or new political parties. 

People start political parties so they can sell their signatures on a ‘pay-per-contract-%’ business model. Be it one seat or the entire 234, each elected member get’s to sign many approvals ranging from contracts, to appointments to transfers and so on. Each signature is used to extort money from the public. This is the only reason they contest in elections, irrespective of their size or political heritage.

My objective with this blog post is more towards helping establish a sense of awareness that is desperately needed for those who are considering to or already acting/thinking upon the NEET issue. The real solution has to address the real problem. Parties and governments are not the problem. Their decision to ignore the NEET circular when it first came is the root cause of this NEET issue. New exams and syllabus changes are very time consuming processes and so they are planned ahead and such programs need collaborative effort both from the state and central administrative bodies.

How to prevent such deliberate ignorance of such circulars and what will enable such a preventive measure? The answer to this twin-pronged question will contain the real solution to the NEET issue.  Transparency in governance is the first step, in my view. 

As for the ongoing protests, well, if students do it, they get smacked and thrown into buses and taken away. However, if it is a ‘All-Party-Gathering’ the entire administration will stand and watch while providing security and free electricity for their bulbs and mikes. This the proof that all ruling and opposition and coalition nonsense, basically are the same nonsense deserving no more attention that that of a rotting rat in a sewer [unless, clogging is an issue of concern].

Feels a lot lighter now. 

What do you think?

Regards,

HPSON: ACRONYM EXEMPLIFYING THE GREATNESS OF CHENNAI

Hello World,

This is not Chennai. This image is here because it helps drive the big-city idea in this post.

HPSON’s are rocking out Chennai as we speak! A new demographic covering broader age groups is fast growing in this southern metro!

Chennai, if often classified as a metro where nothing is happening and is considered dull by some who in my view do not understand what Chennai really is. HPSON’s are the new-age Chennaiites who are proving such assumptions wrong, left, right and center. 

You can find a HPSON pretty much every where in Chennai at any given time, day and night doesn’t really matter. Chennai is slowly evolving its own night-life and HPSON’s are adding the real flavour to it. HPSON’s are not only present everywhere, they make their presence felt in astounding ways. 

Their moves, their looks, their confidence! Boy are they an epitome of Chennai’s newfound greatness!

Chennai has long had and is continuing to have a rather conservative culture where we choose not to be loud. But times are changing and so is our great city’s vibe. Now the city is only as cool as its residents and not all of us are ‘In the Trend’ yet. However, just like how every century begins with a single digit score, Chennai’s new identity needs the early adopters to ‘Set the Trend’ and motivate change among the other Chennaiites. Guess who is Chennai’s new trend-setting early adopter group? HPSON’s!!!!! Hands down!!!

The flare of not caring to bother about tricky circumstances, the swiftness in moves, the confident approaches and the charisma they leave behind….HPSON’s have no match and I don’t think they will ever. They can only get new members which they are and HPSON’s are not going to be ignored anymore. In fact, they are becoming famous. People of all ages now want be a HPSON and are trying their best to do so everyday. Eventually, the way I see it, Chennaiites are going to crave to display their HPSON attitude!

So much happening in Chennai right now that a new demographic is demanding the acronym HPSON to be its primary identity.

HPSON stands for nothing but……

HELMET PODAMA SCOOTER OTRA NAAI!!!!!

In other words,….

THE DOG THAT DRIVES A SCOOTER WITHOUT WEARING A HELMET!!!!!

These nasty empty-headed nonsensical dinglebangs just hop on the scooter and assume the roads have no other user. They have so much confidence that they don’t realize they are alive because so many fellow road users hit their brakes on time!!!

Idiots of all age groups deliberately avoiding the helmet and riding a scooter are endangering the remainder of the Chennai traffic every second of their near-fatal mad-ride meltdowns they display on Chennai roads. You should look at the way they split lanes, the cuts they make and the turns they do. A blind monkey on PS4 for the first time will display better dexterity, composure and compliance.

Just because they think they can get through the traffic with confidence, HPSON’s put their lives in the best place possible, their earth-shattering fit-for-shit confidence! Not one HPSON realises how far the foot-pedal reaches to their side beyond the handlebar. Never did a HPSON care about their knees popping outside their vehicle dimensions. It’s almost as if they are mutating, and their conversion to X-MEN has begun with the deactivation and eventual evaporation of their brain and nerve cells. 

With such valuable intellectual prowess that dictates neglecting the helmet and intergalactic confidence that demands avoiding the use of indicators and hand signals, this HPSON demographic is fast growing in Chennai, and their mad riding of scooters without wearing a helmet is just around the corner to becoming Chennai’s culture, exemplifying the city’s greatness in directions never imagined by people with live brain cells.

On a different note, if you care for some intellectually challenging entertainment, checkout www.summamovies.com. 

Best regards,

SUMMAMOVIES.COM: DELIVERING CONSUMPTION CONTROL AND COMPELLING STORYTELLING TO THE MARGINALISED AUDIENCE

Hello World,

I am a film producer and a start-up founder now. Here's my story:

https://www.summamovies.com

Very similar to start-ups from the past and present, a certain set of capability gaps within the industry resulted in a series of frustrating circumstances where I was at the losing end and when this trend reached a tipping point, I decided to step up myself and do something about it so nobody else goes through what I had to. 

To begin with, we need understand the cost of entertainment. 

Cost of Film Entertainment in Today's Time:

Commuting: The cumulative journey to and from the theater takes up 1.5 hours easily [not accounting for traffic]. Inside the mall, the parking lot is usually about 6.5km below the seal level and the travel between the parking spot and the screen takes another 30 minutes. In all, 2 hours of time is gone outside the screening location. 

Parking Fee: The cheapest options available usually take up to INR 100 [for a car] and almost the same for a bike. Once I went on my bike for a movie to a big mall and ended up paying INR 15 more than the movie ticket price. That was the last time I went to that mall.

Food and Beverages: Here in Chennai, we have a ceiling for cinema ticket pricing and so they are sold at INR 120. Assuming 3 of us go for a movie, the ticket expense reaches INR 380 [assuming online ticket booking]. However, the stale popcorn and diluted soda for 3 pax costs a whoppingINR 800-1200!

Film Time: 2.5 hours [average feature film timing as of 2017]

Total Cost: 4.5 hours of a day's time [13.5 man hours assuming 3 pax], INR 1600 for ticket+popcorn+soda for 3 pax, INR 100 for parking

After spending so much of resources what we get to watch is just appalling. Apologies for the blunt statement but that is the fact. Just because someone somewhere 'confidently' decided how films should and how they have been in the industry for decades, precious resources of the audience is getting wasted. By wasted I mean the audience is not getting its money's worth.

While some enjoy what's available at the theatres, there is is this small segment of the audience that is increasingly getting sidelined just because there is a massive hatred for 'serious' themed movies. Films with substance has always been stereotyped under different labels but at least they had their room within the cinema value chain. However, fast forward to the past and such content don't get their share of screen-space as the 'mass-entertainers' do. For some reason the films with substance don't sell. I have no clue what fact is driving such belief. The absolutely irritating part is when the term 'commercial' is being used to describe films that are basically  a blend of diverse nonsense. 

Anything that is not available for free is a commercial thing and this holds good for films as well. As long as the tickets are sold, the film is a commercial film. The other films are usually available without requiring a payment to be made. So 'commercial film' does not mean a blend of every nonsense possible but actually means a film that can be viewed only after purchasing a ticket. 

While I have always hated the 'mass-entertainers' I do admit, there used to be a time when the mass-entertainers brought in the audience in thousands or even more. However, the times are changing. Here is a recording of a senior office bearer of a film distributors association from the south that narrates the reality of mass-entertainers:

The distributor mentions a list of mass-entertainers recently released and says those movies did not do as well as the production houses promoted them through false propaganda.

The same distributor, in this recording says, the movies released in the past 6-8 months have all failed miserably at the theatres. The movies he specifically names are star-studded mass-entertainers that failed miserably but the film industry kept promoting those films as massive hits with huge box office collections. He says, distributors have lost their investment trying to screen these mass-entertainers but the production houses are organising victory-celebrations and success-meets. He goes on to indicate that in the previous decades when top-actors saw their films failing at the box office, they have compensated the distributors either financially right after the failure or agreed to work for smaller salaries for the subsequent films so that the previous loss is compensated through the profit margin from the next production. The distributor says such compensatory behaviour is absent in the present tamil film industry. 

Well, if the distributors feel so badly about the performance of 'mass-entertainers', I am not too wrong in believing that the mass-entertainers are a blend of diverse nonsense. If they really entertain the masses, the masses would have watched it and the distributors would have made profits. At least the distributor won't resort to youtube/whatsapp recording.

Here is another such press-meet where the member of the Theatre-Owners Association  says after 5 consecutive flops of 'mass-entertainers', they had invested in the 6th one and they have faced another massive defeat. In this video, they are asking for proper compensation for their losses. This video is from 2010:

To be fair, while the distributors and theater owners have all been crying loss all along with the so-called 'commercial-mass-entertainers,' we need to see how the audience reacted to such blended nonsense. Here is a video clip from a theater that is screening a commercial-mass-entertainer:

Now that we have established the real state of the film industry here with respect to the mass-entertainers, we need to look at it from a different yet realistic perspective.

The demographics are evolving and what used to be typical profiles 2 decades back do not hold good in our times today [2017]. The entertainment needs of the audience has evolved much farther than one can imagine. 'Content Variety' is a need as of now. Affordable film consumption means is a growing concern now. Accessible films are increasingly preferred now as the opportunity costs of theatre-film-experience is growing by the day.

Keeping this in mind and fuelled by the frustration of having to tolerate the blended nonsense called mass-entertainers on many occasions, I, joined by my brother-in-law Veeramani, founded Summa Productions Private Limited, a film production company focused on what we are calling Intellectually Challenging Entertainment [ICE]. We built our web-based platform https://www.summamovies.com to deliver our content to our audience via the internet. From the little we know, we are the first film production company to have launched their film on their own OTT Platform. We have decided to specialise in short form content that is intellectually challenging, accessible and affordable for our audience who can enjoy the content on their computers and smart-devices when they want.

In essence, with https://www.summamovies.com we have essentially given the 'Consumption Control' to the audience and with a dedicated focus of Intellectually Challenging Entertainment, we have agreed to deliver 'Compelling Storytelling' to the audience. The film will cost INR 15 and will come with English subtitles which not only makes it affordable to the audience but also accessible to those who might not understand the language of the film. At this moment, we are focused on Tamil films but we have our own version of a global media aspiration which need not be discussed at this point in time. Overall, we have enabled the audience to watch our content whenever they want on the device of their choice. Our web platform https://www.summamovies.com is mobile-optimised and our content presents pretty challenging concepts for the audience to put their thought to. Our objective is that even when our audience have their worst experience with our content, they will walk away with some value or the other from an intellectual standpoint. 

Taking this thought process one step higher, we have incorporated the 'Open Source' philosophy into our for-profit business model. Every time our customer pays for our content, she/he will get a Custom-URL which will be live for 48 hours across 5 unique browser sessions. This means anyone who pays for our content, can watch it and SHARE IT LEGALLY with 4 other friends/family within the 48 hour period. This way, our business model eliminates the need for adopting acts of piracy in order to share content. If you have paid for our content, you are allowed to share it for 48 hours across 4 other browser sessions for 48 hours from the time of payment and WE ARE ABSOLUTELY FINE WITH IT. For what we know  if you have paid for the content, you deserve to share it with your friends and family legally. However, at this point in time, we are a start-up and it costs us to stream you our content. Within our existing operational budgets, 48 hours of free-sharing is all we can provide as of now. Our future aspirations do cover single-digit pricing and extended timelines for sharing content that our audience have rightfully paid for. So if you pay and watch our films, do check out your email and share the link with your friends and family. Do look up the spam folder as we are noticing that some of our audience are receiving their custom-URL's in their spam folder. 

Our first production, Theory of Engineering, is a tamil short film spanning 19 minutes and 41 seconds. The film covers 5 friends discussing their state of unemployment post engineering education. The film is blend of sarcastic humour and drama allowing the audience to pick their comedic perspective as the story unfolds in three acts. 

A big thanks to the experienced technicians and artists who worked with us for either small or no salaries. Without their contribution, we couldn't have done any of this. A separate thankful shout out to Team NIKITHA for building our OTT Platform within shorter time frames and budgets.  Their efforts and contribution means so much to what we have done so far and will also serve as the basis for everything we are going to do moving forward.

Every unique effort in today's time does have a global perspective and contribution to it. For our effort so far, we are an Indian start-up company, our web-hosting service provider is a US-based company and our streaming solution provider is a UK based company. We sincerely wish to expand our horizons such that we engage as many stakeholders as possible in the global context and enable the entertainment industry realise a whole new dimension in terms of content design and delivery.

At Summa Productions, we sincerely hope we remain as a source of affordable, accessible and intellectually challenging entertainment for the marginalised segment of the audience that is sick and tired of watching bland blended nonsense called mass-entertainers. We are pleased to set an example for the rest of the film industry here and everywhere so they can pick up a similar effort to start delivering direct to their audience via the digital means. Digital transformation is by far the greatest of disruptions the global industries are facing right now and embracing the technological evolution is key to be part of the revolutionary change that is looking to sweep the entire world.

Thanks to everyone for the fantastic support so far. We have found our dead-end and have got a nice feeling of the wall. Now that we have started pushing it, our journey has officially begun. We will open a new avenue for the entertainment value chain where all stakeholders including every segment of the audience benefits without hurting the presence and prosperity of others. We asked ourselves what could be the reason for all this we are doing and all we got was "Summa is reason enough" and such was the SUMMA Brand born. [summa in Tamil means 'just like that' or 'no specific reason']. 

Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/summamovies/

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/summamovies

Follow our soundbites on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-527703291/theory-of-engineering-at-summamoviescom

Here is Big FM RJ Abinaya speaking about our business and first production:

Here is our business featured on our legal consultants' blog:

https://vakilsearch.com/advice/summa-movies/

Best Regards,

SPECIALITY OF OUR NATIONAL SECURITY: THE DEFENSE NONSENSE

Hello World,

While I had other ideas for this post, I just could not prevent myself from writing this one before proceeding further. What started with one BSF Jawan is slowly becoming a trend where in-service and retired military personnel are uploading youtube videos of themselves speaking about the bad treatment and corruption they have been bearing during their service. The media has a strong gag order against publishing or discussing this state of military personnel reaching out to the larger audience for the sake of equality in treatment and supplies they need. Well, let’s take a look at the videos they refuse to discuss before we come to a conclusion:

This is what got the trend started. Here’s BSF Jawan Tej Bahadur presenting the sufferings of his and that of his colleagues: 

For those who do not understand Hindi, Jawan Tej Bahadur says the government is providing the supplies but him and his colleagues get very little to eat and what they get is of poor quality. His claim is that something happens across the ranks of the officers that they end up receiving limited supplies which results in less and bad-tasting food.

Here is Air Force Jawan Solanki presenting his travails within the force:

Again, for those who do not understand Hindi, Jawan or Lance Corporal Solanki asks why the British-era practice of unfair disparity between ‘Officers’ and ‘Jawans’ is still live and legitimate in the service. He quotes many examples where the Jawans get less than half the entitlements and allowances in comparison with the Officers. To quote some of the instances, he says Jawans need to serve in the force for about ten years before they become eligible for purchasing a car via the tax-free canteen facility but the officers enter the service with the eligibility. He also says, the Officers’ Mess looks like a star hotel where 50-60 Jawans are engaged just for its upkeep while the Jawans’ Mess remains relatively shabby with the food different  and bad from what’s served in the Officers’ Mess. 

Here is retired Air Force Jawan Suresh Yadav presenting his validation Jawan Tej Bahadur’s accusations and his observations from his service:

Summarising the key aspects of his testimony, he says when jawans/officers make any official effort to bring the discrepancies/discriminations to their superiors’ notice, they get threatened with ‘Form 10 Consequences’. Apparently, when they fill out Form-10 and execute disciplinary action against any Jawan/Officer, the concerned person will be declared as mentally unstable for further service in the force.

Here’s a testimony from CRPF Jawan Meetu Singh Rathod:

Summarising the key points, he says, for every soldier posted at high-altitude/cold regions, the per day oil allowance is about 20 litres but in practice they get 15 litres every 3rd day. This is the condition of soldiers operating at negative temperatures as per Meetu. He also lists the names of honest and corrupt officers based on his personal observation and opinion. He does mention the ‘bad food’ scene in his force citing an example where flour is added to the ‘Dal’ to make it thick. The rest of the bad food story is about the same according to him.

There are many more similar videos where Jawans from different military services claim they are being made to maintain the dogs of their superior offices, polish their boots, wash utensils and even take their kids for sports activity.

On a different note, if you remember, a submarine went down with 18 sailors. Here is the link:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/14/18-trapped-indian-submarine-explodes-sinks-mumbai

Oh, if you also remember, an air force aircraft went down with 29 personnel onboard, guess what, the search was called off and they were declared ‘presumed dead’. Here are the links:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/22/india-begins-search-military-aircraft-missing-29-people-on-board

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Indian_Air_Force_An-32_disappearance

Now that we have a few instances of oddities from all major services in the military, we need to peace it together.

The military can’t make sure their personnel get proper food.

The military can’t make sure their personnel get treated fairly.

The military can’t make sure their personnel are engaged in tasks they are actually hired for.

The military can’t make sure their sailors are safe in submarines even during peace time.

The military can’t make their planes land safely. When they don’t the military will call off the search and declare the missing personnel dead.

If this is the state of their ongoing operations, how on earth are they going to know when and where the enemy will attack? 

If you don’t have the ‘intelligence’ of your own personnel’s welfare and safety, what is the basis for your ‘actual military intelligence’ capabilities? No wonder the Pathankot base was attacked. Not surprising at all, trust me, it shouldn’t be surprising. 

Why do you think the northern territory in J&K is incomplete and segmented? Why do you think there is a PoK and a CoK?

If they can’t deliver a simple ‘Dal’ to their personnel, why should one believe, they have the ball [never mind the second one please] to stand up to the enemies?

We as tax-payers have been funding this nonsense called military in the name of national security. 

What kind of a force is something that can’t predict and prevent its submarine from sinking, that too during peace-time, when nobody is attacking? 

An aircraft went missing and the search was called off. If you can’t recover and deliver the dead bodies of your own personnel who died during peace time, why should one believe, you won’t desert them during battle? What are you using your surveillance systems for? Tracking deer and cats in the bases?

A $38 billion defense budget and all we get is 18 sunk sailors, 29 officers presumed dead, lost and incomplete northern national territory and Jawans taking care of officers’ kids and pets. Feel free to add the rest of the deaths and nonsense you think will fit in.

At what point are we going to admit, we the taxpayers are funding the death of our own airmen, sailors and soldiers?

At what point are we going to admit, with $38 billion budget, we don’t have the capacity to maintain a submarine or track a plane within our territorial regions?

At what point are we going to admit, we the taxpayers, are funding the organised disparity and inequality among military personnel who signed up to protect us? What makes the services believe, the Jawans have a little less haemoglobin or a kidney less than that of Officers from the academy? 

At what point, will this nonsense end?

If this is just going to continue, I say, let’s stop defense spending, convert the military into disaster response services and have the respective states have access to a service that can actually make a difference. I am afraid, this discrimination and neglect will continue even in that scenario, as it is the same set of people we are talking about. 

Considering this, I think, burning the money we allocate for defense spending can produce some heat/flame. We can use the flame/heat productively to clear failed crops from the lands and keep cold regions warm. The byproduct smoke can be used to clear-off disease spreading insects  and the ashes can serve as manure [not sure if this one is valid for all crops, just being fair you know] while the military personnel migrate to become civilian entities with relatively higher safety, respect and morale. Never mind the borders, why stand along a fence that keeps moving towards us anyways? The infiltrators will realise, it is expensive to keep people alive at those altitudes and they will eventually move down to their side and focus more on feeding and engaging their population with sustainable employment opportunities.

Summing up, the secret of our national security: Really bad food, ill-treated Jawans, ill-maintained equipment and last but not the least, complete disregard for the servicemen who sink or go missing during peacetime.

It is about time, we stay away from vacations along the borders. What if the enemies and infiltrators are well fed and well equipped? What if they get fair treatment from their management? We will be taking pictures and they will be taking our lives. Our servicemen will try but given that they don’t have good food or boat or plane or morale, chances are we will be dead and the media will close the news of our death as ‘Tourists Who Violated Restrictions Got Shot by Terrorists.’ 

On a very different note [a shameless plug], if you are interested in unique tamil short films, feel free to visit https://www.summamovies.com/. I couldn't tolerate the mass masala entertainers anymore and decided I will do my best to produce content with substance. I have a long a way to go as a producer and a start-up founder, but I am glad our journey has begun. I look forward to your support. Each film on our site costs INR 15. Thanks!!!

Best Regards,