Artists i discovered/rediscovered in 2009

My childhood friend called on the night of 31st December 2009. While i was speaking to him over the phone, i realised we were the same guys who used to rush down to the local music shop to be the first to buy the cassette of the latest movie. From cassettes costing between 25 and 50 rupees, we have come a long way to storing music on our mobiles and ipods. What was striking as well was the fact that the ease of sharing music has facilitated the spread of music. While going through the 500 odd songs which i have on my mobile, i realise that most of it has come from going through somebody else's mobile/ipod and transferring it via bluetooth or data chord!!! Well....for starters...the list of songs/artists i am putting up are not in any particular order...:

Coldplay/Speed of Sound - The year began with rediscovering "speed of sound" - the song which i remember since probably for the past 6-7 years. Till the beginning of the year i adored the song for the lyrics and instruments used in the song apart from the song as a whole of course...Only after delving further into the songs of coldplay did i realise that this was typical coldplay....amazing lyrics...amazing use of instruments...piano, guitar, drums....To name a few of my coldplay favourites ....yellow, clocks, fix you, swallowed in the sea, talk.

Maroon 5 - When you start of listening to Maroon 5, the song "She will be loved", what strikes you is the unconventional voice of the lead singer. Lyrics need to make sense for a song to be good, whatever be the subject. These guys are pretty good at what they do. Have a couple of other songs as well which are very very ear friendly.

Pritam - Call him names for lifting the odd song from indonesia or honolulu for that matter, but you cant deny credit to this man for dishing out song after song after song through the year which sound music to the ears (pun intended!!). Be it the tracks of love aaj kal or ajab prem ki ghazab kahani or tum mile or new york....the sheer consistency in belting out chartbusters never ceases to amaze me....Although he does the rotten movies too, he does save the best for the best. He has probably taken HR's place as the music director for the masses (till HR returns of course!!).....

Strings - I have always been a Strings fan ever since i watched and heard "Duur" and "Anjane" on Channel V in 1999 or 2000. And have kept track of most of their songs thereafter. But this year got their songs on to my mobile..........Duur, Anjane, Na Jaane Kyun, Zinda, Aakhri Alvida to name a few. They are sensational to say the least and some of the lyrics which they have got on their song is one of the best ever probably.........especially zinda....cant have enough of them!!!

Udit Narayan - Pritam brought with him the trend of using unconventional singers....guys who used to sing only for their albums....mohit chauhan, neeraj sreedhar, atif aslam etc...and not demeaning all of them (they are great too)...the music directors somehow seem to have forgotten Udit Narayan. The fact that i missed his singing became clear when i heard "Sau Janam" from Whats Your Rashee. The freshness of the voice (along with the image of him singing with open arms and a wide smile) was divine. Pity we dont hear of him too much these days.

Rahul Sharma - I heard Rahul Sharma for the first time two, three or four years back while surfing channels. The memory of the santoor still remained somewhere in the corner of the mind. And when i sat down to download songs on a cold January (2009) morning, it came rushing back from the corners...My limited knowledge of music notwithstanding, I never imagined somebody could do so much with a santoor and possibly come up with a tune where santoor plays with drums in the background...Listen to the pieces of music in your earphones and they are gems.....

Phil Collins - For people who are struggling to recall who is phil collins i can make two attempts :

• The scene in hangover where mike tyson asks the protagonists to shut up since his favourite part of the song was about to play - "In the Air tonight" was the song and is something differently good,
• Another day in Paradise is a song which i think lots of us have come across somewhere.

Phil Collins has a very unconventional voice with a great feel...try him out...apart from the two mentioned above, try "One more night" and "Cant stop loving you".

Suresh Wadkar - The three or four lines which he sang in "Raat ke Dhai Baje" in Kaminey were as good as the two or three lines Alka Yagnik sang in "So gaya ye jahan" in Tezaab. He sounded refreshingly soothing to the ears (am using such adjectives for want of better adjectives).

And a special mention to the album that was Kaminey. "Raat ke Dhai Baje", "Kaminey" (title track), "Phatak", "Dhan te Nan", "Pehli Baar Mohabbat" were all masterpieces in themselves in all aspects..... the rendition by the singers, music, lyrics (by Gulzar).........

I am sure i am missing out on quite a few of my favourites, but i guess one never can cover all songs.....the quest for music continues

The farce that is democracy

Casually surfing channels on a tuesday evening, i came across two news reports. One, which represents an attempt to manipulate the electoral process for ensuring success in elections and the second, the story of a common citizen being manipulated by the supposed pillars of democracy the police, the state government and the judiciary.

A proposal by Mr. Narendra "Godhra" Modi, who clearly believes (rightfully) he can get away with murder, wherein he wants voting to be made compulsory and mandatory. Its simply amazing how the political leaders of this country believe that they can behave like dictators on the backing of electoral successes. One guesses that this latest brainwave stems from an underlying fear of his votebank shrinking/not turning up to vote. Mr. Modi is in urgent need of two things : a copy of the Indian constitution (preferably a Gujarati version as he might just demand) and lots of common sense as he fails to realise the practicality of the proposal. Rather than spending the additional crores on tracking who has not voted and enforcing his "visionary"
proposal, the money will be well spent in the development of this country. Possibly introducing "none of the above" option in the voting lists would attract more voters to the booths than a law mandating the same. And just to make matters more complex, how do they intend to penalise people who dont vote? Possibly Mr. Modi's followers vote on his/her behalf?!!!

The second news report, was of a 16 year old girl committing suicide 2 years after she filed a complaint against a senior police officer for molestation. Ironically, a court sentenced the police officer for a 6 month term. And the usual story of the connivance between the politicans and police system. It is time we had a good look at our judiciary system on the whole and specifically laws dealing with sexual harrasment/molestation. We might as well be un-democratic when it comes to dealing with such offences rather than end up under punishing such ghastly crimes. A person molesting a young boy/girl deserves no less than being shot in public. Such punishments would essentially give such #$%*@#$! what they exactly a deserve, somebody putting them out of their misery.

And despite all this, our politicians are still thumping their chests about the world's largest democracy.......no wonder people dont turn up to vote.....

Attitudes

One of the advantages of being in the profession i am is getting to meet new people from different places all the time. Of different age groups, different origins, different skills. One of these guys is a guy from Allahabad who was recently transferred from the Naini plant (near Allahabad) of his employer. He was offered a choice between Baroda and Kolkata and based on the fact that Kol was a metro, it was an obvious choice. 2 months down the line over a cup of tea, he is generally frustrated. "Kolkata is a place where things dont move. People are content with how things are and dont allow any changes even if its better for the Company and would simply put roadblocks. The attitude in Allahabad is way better. For starters people are receptive to changes". These exact words of his still ring in my ears. And if you see this has been the story of our state. A state of stagnation, content which has been driving people out of this state. History and legacy are very good words for the library but when we use those words too frequently in one's day to day life one stagnates and lives in the past. And more often than not people who talk of their history dont have too much to talk about the present and future. And thats what exactly is the story of Kolkata and West Bengal. And no signs of change as well. A strike called by a trade union even if highly unsuccessful would result in half the working class stay back at home. A taxi driver assesses whether he wants to take a customer to his destination for 4 full minutes before eventually refusing. Judging by the present state God has a pretty difficult task of saving this state.
Yours historically
Ajit

Companies Bill 2009

Couple of my friends have indicated that my attempts at blogging were the closest to blogging disasters which they had ever seen.....and that my blogs were typically an accountant's blog....dreary....(thank god they did not mean fudged!!! )....so with great hesitation i post this one as even by my elated standards of drearyness...this is the dreariest of them all......The following is a compilation of various articles which i have come across on the Companies Bill 2009 arranged in an apparently orderly fashion. The bill presently has been placed before the Lok Sabha and has been referred to a standing committee of the parliament:

• NEW CONCEPTS INTRODUCED BY THE COMPANIES BILL 2009
  ‘One-Person’ Company
  The present Act has the concept of a private limited and a public limited company, and a private limited company needs to have at least 2 members. For the first time, the concept of a “one-person company”, or OPC, has been introduced in the Bill, and the intent in apparently to permit entrepreneurship of a single individual to obtain the benefit of a corporate form of organization. This will especially benefit individual professionals who wish to function individually as professionals and yet want the benefit of limited liability. Some other features on the Bill on this aspect are:
  
  · Requirement to mention in memorandum the name of the person who shall become member of the Company in the event of the subscriber’s death, disablement, or otherwise.
  
  · Duty of the member of a OPC to intimate the Registrar of Companies of a change in the name of the member of the Company.
  · Indicators in the bill that the regulatory regime for OPCs shall be less stringent as compared to other companies
  
  Registered Valuers
  The concept of registered valuers has been introduced and used in the Bill in the context of a preferential allotment of shares and in case of a merger or demerger valuation, as indeed in relation to certain aspects of sick companies.
  
  Mergers and demergers
  Under the Companies Act, 1956 the provisions that deal with the compromises and arrangements (primarily refers to mergers and demergers but may also mean internal reconstruction) require high court approvals consequently leading to delays specifically in cases where the companies under merger are located in different states. The Bill has introduced a concept of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) whose objectives include regulation of merger and demerger schemes. NCLT being a specialized body dealing with company law issues may result in reduction in the time lag presently involved in disposal of company law issues. Possibility of delays as a result of objections from small shareholders/creditors has been reduced. A threshold for raising objections has been introduced at 10% for shareholders and 5% for creditors. Although this may appear to be against the interest of the minority shareholders , it will prevent frivolous objections and needless delays.
  
  Small Companies
  Based on recommendations of the JJ Irani Committee Report (JJICR), the concept of small companies has been introduced in the Bill and has been defined as a company other than a public company:
  
  (i) Whose paid up capital does not exceed a prescribed limit (not exceeding Rs. 5 crores)
  (ii) Whose turnover does not exceed a prescribed amount (not exceeding Rs. 20 crores)
  Specific reference in the Bill to small companies has been made in the section dealing with mergers and demergers where small companies have been exempted from approaching the NCLT for approvals. The scheme only needs to be approved in the general meeting and notices are required to be issued to the Registrar of Companies (ROC) and official liquidator. If the ROC or official liquidator has any objection, they may file an application to the NCLT and seek its approval.
  
  Governance provisions
  The Bill specifically provides that the directors’ participation in a board meeting may be through video conferencing or such other electronic means as may be prescribed, except that certain matters cannot be dealt with through such means.
  The Bill also provides for voting by shareholders through electronic means. Although electronic means has not been defined in the Act, Information Technology Act, 2000 seems to indicate e mail voting is possible. The detail of the methods of voting through electronic means is awaited and is expected to be introduced through rules to be specifically issued in this regard.
  
  Penal Provisions
  Stringent penal provisions for non compliance by auditors have been introduced. Presently, penal amounts on auditors prescribed in the Companies Act, 1956 are minimal viz. two years imprisonment or Rs. 50,000 fine or both. The Bill incorporates penal provisions which require an auditor to be subject to conviction, refund of remuneration to the Company or to be liable to pay damages to the Company or any other person on losses arising out of incorrect or misleading statements of particulars made in the audit report. The Bill provides for a fine of Rs. 25 lakhs plus a prison term of 3 years and additionally the Bill has deemed such offences as non compoundable
  In case of companies fraudulently luring persons in IPOs, under the existing act, the fine is Rs. 1 lakhs and the offence is compoundable. The Bill provides for three years of imprisonment plus a fine ranging between Rs. 1 lakh and Rs. 50 lakhs. Further, the offence has been deemed as non compoundable.
  For repeat offenders, the amount of fine leviable will be twice the amount of fine levied at the time of first offence and in case of fraudulent activities/actions, provisions for recovery and disgorgement have been included.
  It may be relevant to note that there is a definition of officer in default which provides adequate protection to independent directors.
  
  Delegated Legislation
  Delegated legislation (also referred to as secondary legislation or subordinate legislation) is law made by an executive authority under powers given to them by primary legislation in order to implement and administer the requirements of that primary legislation. It is law made by a person or body other than the legislature but with the legislature's authority. There are approximately 275 provisions providing for delegated legislations ; 35 of these are relatively substantive approvals, such as the ability to prescribe the financial format of financial statements, model articles for the company, rules for issuing “sweat equity” shares, rules for buy back of securities, depreciation rates etc. While such delegated legislations indicate the inherent flexibility in the Act, it could also result in government tinkering with substantive approvals.
  
  
  POSSIBLE ISSUES ARISING OUT OF THE BILL IN ITS PRESENT FORM
  · Section demanding the registration of valuers results in all the partners of a partnership firm of valuers to be registered. This may not be practically possible to implement.
  · Disqualification of corporate entities from being eligible to do valuations may result in entities which have the necessary expertise such as investment banks from being eligible to complete the valuations
  · The Bill proposes a cap on the fees for valuation assignments. This represents a potential issue as a very restrictive cap may result in the warding away good quality valuers
  · The Bill does not appear to make a distinction between preferential allotment by listed entities and unlisted companies. This may result in regulatory overlapping since the listed entities are required to value the preferential allotments as per the guidelines issued by SEBI in this regard
  · In the context of mergers and demergers, the Bill refers to a valuation report to be sent along with the notice of a meeting of auditors and shareholders proposed to be called in pursuance of an order by NCLT. Clarification in this regard is required since circulation of a full scale valuation report to entire world may not be advisable
  · Replication of concepts from Clause 49 of the listing agreement is not the same
  · Complete prohibition of trading in equity shares of the Company by key managerial personnel impractical in view of shares being held by such persons by virtue of ESOPs being issued to such persons or by virtue of such persons being part of the promoter group
  · Use of securities premium for writing off of expenses in relation to issue of debentures and shares as presently permitted by Companies Act, 1956 not yet addressed
  · Failure to prevent courts (NCLT in the bill) prescribing manner of accounting in case of scheme of arrangements
  · Although the bill permits Indian companies to merge with foreign companies, the foreign company in question is required by the Bill to have a place of business in India

Lyrics - at its intense best

At the very outset, apologies for calling this a blog....had to take this route since Facebook permits only 420 characters and i used up way way more than that!!!! Well....one of the most intense pieces of poetry which one could possibly come across in contemporary commercial Hindi cinema music :
"Bajai pyar ke shabnam mere gulistan mein,
Baraste rahte hain har sind maut ke saaye,
Syaaheoon se ulajh padti hai meri aankhen,
Koi nahi koi bhi nahi jo batlaaye main kitni der ujaale ki raah dekhunga,
Koi nahi koi bhi nahi na paas na door,
Ek yaar hai dil ki dhadkan,
Apni chaahat ka jo elaan kiye jaati hai,
Zindagi hai jo jiye jaati hai,
Khoon ke ghunt piye jaati hai,
Khwab kaanton se siye jaati hai"

Music Review - 3 Idiots

When i started off with the music album, i must admit my expectations from this album were not great given Rajkumar Hirani's history with music. The music album standalone of his movies have never greatly fascinated me (Parineeta was probably close to being an exception), songs were always more suited to an audio visual environment, rather than purely an audio environ. album has 5 tracks (without of course the usual remixes) -

1 . Aal Izz Well - The typical college song of the movie probably with the use of spoons and glasses in the background. Is probably the freshest song of the album with lyrics which are your run of the mill. Sonu Nigam sounds good.
2. Give me some sunshine - My favourite from the album with great guitar and 10 seconds of piano which sounds divine. Thought behind the song is one which i guess would appeal to all. Dialogues by Sharman Joshi intertwined with the singing and the instruments all add up to a very good song and probably the best of the album.
3. Behti Hawa Sa Tha Woh - The very beginning of the song brings up memories of Naam Ada Likhna from Yahaan by the same music director. An average song which could have been worse if Shaan was not the singer. Seems to be in memory of a lost friend.
4. Jaane Nahin Denge - Very good rendition by Sonu Nigam. The problem with this song (as was with the previous one) is that it seems heavily inspired from Mr. Santanu Moitra's (music director) previous composition (Parineeta in this case). Feels good to listen to Sonu Nigam again though.
5. Zoobi Doobi - The lyrics stand out. Other than that less said about the song the better.

Overall, this album as for all other music of Raj Kumar Hirani movies, the album might just do well after the movie. The album stands out for the liberal use of Sonu Nigam, Shaan and Shreya Ghosal and nice and different lyrics. To sum it up, i started off listening to the album half asleep in the hope that the album would either wake me up or put me off to sleep. At the end of it all, i did not fall asleep halfway through but sure i fell asleep immediately after the album!!.

West Bengal - In need of common sense

The ticker on CNN IBN reads...Metro Station Shootout.....shootout at Kavi Nazrul station.....one switches the channel to get rid of it.........got to Times Now......which has the railway minister who is more interested in becoming the chief minister of West Bengal branding the current chief minister as a Maoist....couple of weeks back...the entire city brought to standstill...as the Chief Minister got arrested the people who were demanding his arrest!!!! Being born and brought up in the "City of Joy" does not prevent me from wondering what is it which prevents the corporates (who are based out of Kol) from shifting base....what is in it for them to stay.....unless some common sense prevails amongst the politicians of the state.....all the hard work done to attract investments over the past few years is going to go down the Hooghly....somebody has to take the situation by the scruff of the neck...and set some basic rules for the election....otherwise things can go horribly horribly wrong......even after elections......the situation could just continue to be tense and touch and go....just hope that the events of the past year are not the trailer for the movie that the assembly elections are going to be.....