"Open" An Autobiography - Andre Agassi

My favority quote from Andre Agassi's autobiography, "Open", reads as follows:

"Our best intentions are often thwarted by external forces - forces that we ourselves set in motion long ago. Decisions, especially bad ones, create their own kind of momentum, and momentum can be a bitch to stop, as every athelete knows. Even when we vow to change, even when we sorrow and atone for our mistakes, the momentum of our past keeps carrying us down the wrong road. Momentum rules the world. Momentum says: Hold on, not so fast, I'm still running things here. As a friend likes to say, quoting an old Greek poem: The minds of the everlasting gods are not changed suddenly." Chap 21, Pg 253

When I mentioned to a friend from work that I really liked Andre's new autobiography, he dismissed the thought with a smirk saying that all autobiographies tend to be self-aggrandizing by nature, more so ones by sports stars, since they have fragile egos that feel neglected after retirement. Then it struck me that Andre's autobiography is exactly the opposite. He flays himself black and blue. It is like a public atonement of some kind. He lays bare some very dark secrets. It is precisely this kind of honesty, that makes the book such a great read.

For once, you get a glimpse of the price that sports stars pay for achieving great success. The book has it all - the story of a childhood fractured by an obsessive father, rebellious teenage years, the heady shift to the pro circuit, a broken psyche that couldn't hold itself together at the top level, the frustration at being an underachiever, and then the magical turn around, where at the age of 28, Agassi rewrote his script and became the only male tennis player to ever win a Career Golden Slam (all Open titles - US, Australian, French, Wimbelond - and the Olympic Gold).

The book also talks about Agassi's infamous flirtations with women, drugs, booze and junk food. The revelation about drugs caused a media furore when the book was released with many past and current tennis players condemning it, some even asked for Agassi to be punished.

A fascinating insight that emerges as one reads the book is the fact that being contrarian is a deep rooted trait in Agassi. It manifests itself in all aspects of his life - right from his game to his personality, his fashion, his book, everything. As a player, his game was built on baseline slugging, this during an age when serve and volley was considered pristine. His body was not built for tennis, he had a weak back and an average build. Right through his career he had to slog really hard to maintain pro-level fitness. His mind was probably his biggest weakness. He always doubted his abilities. He never had family stability to draw upon during moments of doubt. His obsession with his hair-piece is an extreme example of the kind of insecurity that Agassi lived through. He actually lost his first French Open final because he was worried that his hair-piece would fall off!

His dichotomous nature again comes through, when he claims that he's hated tennis all his life. This is a line that he keeps repeating umpteen number of times throughout the book. He tries hard to convince everyone he meets about his hate for the game. He makes it sound like he's a tennis player because he doesn't know any other trade. No one can quite get what he's saying, neither could I.

Another favorite quote to end the proceedings. This is about his encounter with Leander Paes, when the two played each other in the semis of the 96 Atlanta Olympics. Before Leander's fans get offended - wait a second and think about it, coming from a baseline slugger like Agassi - this quote isn't that inappropriate.

"In the semis I meet Leander Paes from India. He's a flying, jumping bean, a bundle of hyperkinetic energy, with the Tour's quickest hands. Still, he's never learned to hit a tennis ball. He hits off-speed , hacks, chips, lobs - he's the Brad of Bombay.
Then behind all his junk, he flies to the net and covers it so well that it all seems to work. After an hour, you feel as if he hasn't hit one ball cleanly - and yet he's beating you soundly. Because I'm prepared, I stay patient, stay calm, and beat Paes 7-6 , 6-3 ."

Notings from C K Prahalad's "Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid"

I was deeply sceptical about the buzz this book generated when it was first released in 2005. The scepticism kept me away from it for all these years. I felt that preaching to corporations to look at the bottom of the pyramid(BOP) as a viable market and linking this povery allevation was too far fetched and moralistic. I believed then, and still believe now, that if there is a market,  corporations will reach it without you having to tell them. If corporations stay away from certain markets, then it is because they are not equipped to serve them profitably - the issues might range from distribution, to flexibility, trust, product fitment, etc.

However, recently I glanced at this book in the library and it struck me that I had never read it. Reading it from the library meant that I'd have saved myself a solid Rs. 500 by borrowing it instead of buying it. The offer was too good to refuse, and so, I borrowed it. I've been reading from it in small doses, and I must say, I was wrong about the book. It does hold very interesting insights about the BOP market. I still find the bits where the author sermonizes about poverty allevation a little hard to digest. But the sections where he lists down the characteristics of BOP markets and lays a framework for approaching them, are extremely interesting and insightful. As I read the book, I shall keep making notes in this blog entry. Here goes the first one...

1. Do the poor have enough money to spend? CK Prahlad makes an interesting observation about how the general public and marketers get put off by the filth and squalor that surround the urban poor in slums. The dirty surroundings lead us to believe that the poor don't have the capacity to pay, and even if they do have some money, they would rather spend it on improving the condition of their sanitation and immediate living quarters rather than splurging on consumers goods and durables. This is a wrong assumption. Prahlad proves this by citing the example of the Dharavi slum dwellers. Dharavi has no sewage system or running water, and yet Prahlad's study shows that it has 90% TV penetration. This is no exaggeration. On a recent visit to Mumbai, I remember how I was dumbstruck at the sight of DTH antennas sticking out off hutments lining the Western-Express Highway. This effectively disbunks the theory that slum dwellers have no purchasing power and are hence not a viable market. But if they do have money, why don't they spend on improving the condition of their immediate living quarters? As Prahlad says, they choose not do so because they don't have proper title for the land they stay on. Hence, they prefer to spend on movable property like TVs and mobile phones that can move with them, in the event that they have to vacate quarters. If marketers wake up to the fact that there is such a large BOP population that buys their products, they would perhaps be in a better position to tailor their offerings to increase uptake from this segment.

Prahlad also offers an interesting insight about the poverty penalty that slum dwellers have to pay. On average every item that they spend on comes at a higher cost. Slum dwellers pay a 200-300% rate of interest when the borrow money from money lenders. Likewise, all other utilities come at a higher tax imposed by the informal market eco-system that has sprung up in the absence of regular market players. If a financial services company where to figure out a way to serve this market and charge an interest rate of 25% (nearly twice the normal lending rate) they would run a profitable venture that is beneficial to both the lender and the borrower.

Of course, servicing this market is not easy. The biggest challenge is adapting to the cashflow limitations of buyers in this segment. Though this is a major hurdle, it is not intractable. As cited in the book, several companies have managed to work around the problem. In India, over the last few years, NBFCs have started venturing into this market with small customized loans.

Elsewhere in the book, Prahlad says that companies should actively start engaging with these markets and try to incorporate them into their existing business expansion plans. I defer on this view. More on this later...Cheers.

My Rotator Cuff Injury

The latest injury I've picked up is a torn rotator cuff. It happened a month back. While I was rushing up the stairs in Mumbai, where I had travelled for work, I tripped and fell forward and landed heavily on my outstretched shoulders - as if I were doing a push up on the stairs. My left shoulder let out a popping sound, and I knew I was in trouble. The pain wasn't delibitating, so, I ignored it for two days (in hindsight RICE - Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation - would've helped in those two days immediately after the injury). The day after I landed in Bangalore, I visited my orthapaedic doctor and he diagnosed the problem as a rotator cuff injury.

The rotator cuff is a group of four tendons and muscles that surround the shoulder joint. They connect the bone of the upper arm with the shoulder blade and the collar bone. It is a complicated joint that supports the whole range of motions of the shoulder joint. When a tendon gets damaged here, mobility of the shoulder gets severely affected. There is a throbbing pain that is difficult to locate. It typically originates at the shoulder joint and runs down the outer part of the upper arm. Lifting your arm above the head becomes extremely painful.

Since this area is very cartilaginous, there is limited blood supply to the joint. Hence, an injury to this region takes a long time to heal. From the literature I've read, I believe it takes two months on average for a mild rotator cuff injury to fully heal. My doctor advised me to rest my arm, stop doing exercises of the upper body and give the affected area an oil massage everyday. The oil massage is to generate heat near the joint and improve blood circulation to the area. I neglected the oil massage during the first few weeks, because I didn't know the significance of it. But after figuring out the blood circulation theory, I've been religiously massaging my shoulder and there's been a marked improvement ever since. Many people who've been through such injuries don't know of this theory about blood circulation and tend to give cock and bull stories about why shoulder injuries take so long to heal. After hearing a whole bunch of such stories with exasperation, I did my research and found a seemingly plausible explanation that I thought I'd share with the rest of you out there.

A shoulder injury is extremely frustrating because it severly impedes your fitness and sports routine. I've stopped gymming and playing cricket and tennis for a month now. By the looks of it, it would take another month before a full recovery. Sigh.....if only I'd walked my way up those stairs in Mumbai.

ps: There is loads of online literature on the subject. The following link is a good place to start http://orthopedics.about.com/od/rotatorcuff/tp/rotatorcuff.htm .

"Hanumanji ka meeta"

Many years ago, while we were in Nigeria, I am told we had a family friend called Mishraji. He was a portly man in his fifties, had greying hair and was well-liked for being a generous host. Mishraji's wife, a great friend of my mother's, was a demure lady and couldn't hear or speak due to congenital deafness. My parents met the Mishras at the weekly bhajans where the South Asian community in the neighbourhood would gather. At the bhajans, Mishraji was legendary for his persistance while singing. People would squirm in their seats while he would stretch the last bhajan to the limits of sonic endurance with his booming voice.

Mishraji loved inviting people over to his house and my parents used to be regulars on the guest list. During every visit, Mishraji would offer homemade sweets as prasad - "Hanumanji ka meetha". On the rare occassion, when sweets weren't ready, he would call out to his wife - "Hanumanji ka meeta nahi banaya kya?" and after a short while, freshly prepared sweets would emerge from the kitchen in honour of the monkey god.

It has been over 20 years since we left Nigeria, but still every once in a while, when my mother prepares a sweet dish, she arrives at the dining table with a flourish and announces, "Hanumanji ka meeta" and we all break out into a hearty laugh. Mishraji's message endures. He liked his sweets and he liked his god. It was only fitting to combine the two and chant - "Hanumanji ka meeta" - in celebration of life and its gracious provider.

The Secret Society of Secretive People

As the name suggests, 'The Secret Society of Secretive People' (TSSOSP) is a secret organization of secretive peole. It is so secretive, that few secretive people know that it exists. The few who know, don't know where it is, because that's a secret. The fewer who know where it is, do not know how to apply, because well, that too is a secret. So, one wonders, why have such a secretive oraganization at all? Well, those who are secretive would tell you, that's a secret.

Movie Review: Public Enemies - an interesting watch

Now, 'Public Enemies' is not the sort of movie everyone would enjoy. It is an experimental movie - at least I've not seen this docu-drama style of movie making being attempted at this scale - and as with all experiments, you need a little patience and an open mind to appreciate the freshness that it brings to the movie watching experience.

The movie was shot with a high definition hand camera and this technique gives the whole movie a touch of understated realism. It gives the viewer the feeling as if he/she were participating or observing the events in real life. I distinctly remember the scene wherein Dillinger is arrested and brought to the Lake County jail in Indiana. A hastily arranged press conference is shown. As you watch people hustling in and out of the frame, you feel as if it were an amateur video shot at home - this is not to suggest that camera work is shoddy, instead, the skillfully handled handycam jerks serve to enhance the realism of the scene.

With such camera technique, the director is forced to dispose off with familiar cinematic crutches like background music and over the top acting, because they'd appear very tacky. Hence, silence is used as a tool to enhance the dramatic effect of many scenes. In fact, this movie must rank as one of the quitest movies I've seen. There is a sense of peaceful silence pervading most scenes, there are no unnecessary noises made by the cast or the crew. Background music is used sparingly and is usually heard as a tool for scene tranisitions.

With such a bare canvas, the actors' performances come under intense scrutiny. Bad actors are thoroughly exposed. The only way to retain the audience's interest is by breathing life into the movie's characters. Johnny Depp is outstanding as John Dillinger. He makes the role his own. He puts up a thoroughly convincing act as the bitter and ambitious Dillinger who is out to conquer the world, knowingly mindless of the consequences. The camera puts intense pressure on Johnny Depp; in many frames, the entire drama rests on Johnny Depp's expressions and he carries them off with aplomb. Kudos to the performer. On the same note, the French actress, Marion Cotillard has put in a brilliant performance as Dillinger's girlfriend, Billie Frechette. The other star of the movie, Christian Bale, puts in an effecient performance as Agent Purvis of the FBI.

Many people in the theater, who watched the movie with me, were restless and visibly bored. If you sit back with your pop corn and expect to be entertained over the din of your phone and text messaging, the movie won't work. You will have to do some prep before hand by reading about Dillinger to appreciate the context of the movie and then keep your mind and ears open during the show to figure out what the characters are saying. There are many superb lines throughout the movie, sample this -

Dillinger to Billie: "I like baseball, movies, good clothes, fast cars, whiskey, and you... what else you need to know? "

John 'Red' Hamilton: "We don't work with people we don't know. And you don't work when your desperate. Walter Dietrich. Remember that?
John Dillinger: Walter forgot. When your desperate, that's when you got no choice.

All in all, a nice movie. Wouldn't mind catching it on TV or DVD another time. Cheers.

Find below some cool Dillinger videos I found on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz0jtGGO7VE

Comings and goings

“It’s a funny thing coming home. Nothing changes. Everything looks the same, feels the same, even smells the same. You realize what’s changed, is you.”

- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Paramount Pictures, 2008

As I'm on the verge of packing and moving for the third time in as many years, this quote sums up the feeling...