Deep Impressions

    Cinemahalls : Reeling A Reincarnation ?   Against its previous rivals (TV, VHS, Cable TV et al), cinemahalls could flex their muscle through technological innovations. But as they reopen, they face a unique rival.              ------- ------- -------   ------- ------- -------  ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- When the first Indian film  Raja Harishchandra    (1913) was screened, the cinemahall had remained silent.    During 1910s, Cinemahalls would face tough competition from theatre – which then had    voice . With talkie films, Cinemahalls surpassed theatre,    as writers could write stories for cinema that could not have been narrated in theatres.     During 1940s to 1970s, Cinemahalls in India, saw a rapid growth. When during 50s & 60s, cinemahalls in US faced competition from television, it was countered through technological innovation called    widescreen formats (cinemascope etc.). Widescreen formats were very cumbersome to watch on TV. In India, cinemaha

      Safeguarding Indian Realty from Evergrande phenomenon     All published in The Print   While the above issue does raise concern, however,  before one addresses the above, a more fundamental question needs to be answered : “Why do developers end up borrowing more than they can chew ?”   And the answer lies in the structural uniqueness of real estate business.     1.       Capital requirement remains unpredictable     A developer typically plans his funding through three sources :   ·        Own equity ·        Borrowings from banks etc. ·        Customer Advances      Owner’s equity has physical limitation, bank borrowings too are limited by regulatory norms. Since customer advances remain unpredictable, financial closure quite often remains a puzzle.  Further when  the projects gets completed, developer’s capital requirement comes down significantly, therefore, developer would prefer capital that can be repaid after the project.    To address all the above concerns, developers en

        हिंदी के ऐतिहासिक हमसफ़र  :  उर्दू ,  अंग्रेजी और तकनीक   Also published as an opinion piece in  Dainik Bhaskar  on Hindi Diwas (14 th  Sep 2021)       वैसे तो हिंदीभाषा की उम्र क़रीबन  1000  वर्ष हैं पर खड़ी बोली की आयु तो सिर्फ़  200  वर्ष है और अगर घटनापूर्ण इतिहास की बात करें तो पिछले  100  वर्षों अपने आप में एक विशेष स्थान रखते हैं । जितना  ‘हैपनिंग’ या जितना घटनापूर्ण हिंदी के लिए ये  100  वर्ष रहें हैं, उस उच्च स्तर का उतार-चढ़ाव किसी और भाषा ने कदाचित ही देखा होगा।     1920  के दशक में हिंदी की  सबसे प्यारी हमसफ़र थी उर्दू   । असहयोग आंदोलन और खिलाफ़ती आँदोलन के आपसी तालमेल के दौरान, दोनो भाषाओं में प्रेम इतना गाढ़ा हो गया था की बोलते वक़्त ये पता ही चलता था कि कहाँ उर्दू ख़त्म हुई और हिंदी शुरू हो गयी।   बिना उर्दू के, हिंदी भाषियों को अपने हक़ की लड़ाई के लिए ना वकील मिलता, और ना ही हलफ़नामा। और बिना हिंदी के व्याकरण के, उर्दू लड़खड़ा के गिर पड़ती। भाव वाचक संज्ञाओं ( ज़रूरत, मेहनत,  मदद,   मजबूरी,) के लिये जहां हिंदी बे-झिझक उधार माँगने  उर्दू के पास चली जाती, तो वही

Telecom and Real Estate : A strange case of similarities     अति रूपेण वै सीता चातिगर्वेण रावणः। अतिदानाद् बलिर्बद्धो ह्यति सर्वत्र वर्जयेत्।।     Extreme beauty of Sita,  Extreme haughtiness of Ravana,  Extreme charity of Bali  were the cause of their troubles.  Therefore, extreme is prohibited everywhere.     ~ Chanakya Neeti (Chapter 3, Shloka 13    )     The summary of the above i.e.  Ati Sarvatra Varjayet    (extreme is prohibited everywhere), has brought two sectors with no commonalities – Telecom and Real Estate – on the same table. The differences among these are, of course, very obvious. The former, being technology driven, represents the modern and experiences things moving at the speed of light    Real Estate represents the old and is slow in reacting to events. If Telecom costs are about a small monthly charge and Real Estate purchase is about biggest expenditure in one’s life. Differences are so much palpable that according to a few analysts the two are set at cross purpos