Mahatma Gandhi : Film : MAHATMA – Life of Gandhi, 1869-1948

This is a 5 hrs. 10 min. documentary biography of Mohandas Mahatma Gandhi. All events and principles of Gandhi’s life and thought are viewed as integrated parts of his truth-intoxicated life depicting permanent and universal values.
The purpose of the film is to tell the present and the future generations “that such a man as Gandhi in flesh and blood walked upon this earth”, to acquaint them with his life and work and to spread his message of peace and universal brotherhood to the war-weary and fear-stricken world. The film brings together a mass of visual record not only of 78-year life of Gandhi but also of an important period of India’s history.
The aim of the film being education and not entertainment, there is no attempt at dramatization of those exciting times. The story is told with an eye to truthful documentation of the main events within the limits of available documentary visual material…

Read more about the film:http://streams.gandhiserve.org/mahatm…

The film here is courtesy gandhiserve

Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music – January 2014

Welcome to January 2014edition of Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music.

We have had great opening of 2014, in so far as domain of our interest goes. First Day, First Show was a brilliant article on Songs of Yore – Anil Biswas: The Maestro and My Father– by none other than the daughter – Shikha Biswas Vohra. The article, as can be expected, is rich with intimate details and emotional touch to quite known songs. 2014 is also centenary year of birth of Anil Biswas. So the article would certainly be taken as a curtain raiser to several other articles that we will have opportunity to cherish @ SoY

Here are some more of the (recent) articles on Anil Biswas:

• Dances on Footpathpresents seven of his favorite songs inHappy Birthday, Anil Biswas!
• SurveykhaN –Anil Biswas
• Headlines Today –An Affair to Remember: Magical melodies of Anil Biswas
• Khwahish-e-Parwaaz –Anil Biswas and His Mastery over the Folk Idiom
• Memsaab’s Story’s Posts tagged ‘Anil Biswas’

For the readers who belong – either by age or by developed hobby – to the period to which the Golden Era of HFM music is related to, Anil Biswas or K C Dey may not sound very unfamiliar to the ears. However, KC Dey: The divine singer with inner vision provides a fairly varied treat to the singer’s repertoire  , in terms of his songs form films, his non-film bhajans and his naat.
SoY has continued to regale the opening of 2014 in presenting Subodh Agrawal’s Film songs based on classical ragas (7) – In the royal presence of Darbari. The article is 7^th in the in the series on the film songs based on classical ragas.

“Dedicated to everyone who either remembers their own travels through those confusing, conflicting, rebellious, bitter-sweet, happy-sad times, and to those who are in, or about to step into that twilight world between the carefree days of childhood and sedate ‘responsible’ adulthood, here are ….songs that probably express what you may have felt, are feeling, or will feel some day…”  inMy Favourites: Songs of Innocence.

2014 has also continued the bell tolling onto the luminaries of the Golden Era. Suchitra Sen drew the final curtain to her secluded personal life, after having blazed quite a trail on Bengali Cinema skies.

• Remembering Suchitra Sen is a compilation of tributes that had flowed in the media.
• Cineplot has reproduced a 1955 article – Suchitra Sen – Dreamy-eyed Bengali star who makes her debut on the Hindi Screen in “Devdas”
• Dusted Off remembers Suchitra Sen’sDeep JweleJaai – directed by Asit Sen, who went on to remake it in Hindi as the WaheedaRehman starrer, Khamoshi.

Dusted Off’s other articles for the period under review:

• Ten of my favourite filmi wedding songs, which are directly related to weddings.
• There you are!: The ‘lost and found’ trope in Hindi cinema, quite vividly narrating different lost-and-found themes.

Incidentally, this article seems to have triggered the inspiration for Dead As A Dodo (Hopefully!) – about tropes I wish would vanish, tropes that have vanished, and should stay vanished, beginning with one of the most egregious.

We also take a look at One day I discovered Suraiya, an article published in January 2013 @ The Cinema Corridor.

BhooliBisriSunahariYaadein has vividly presented VividhBharati – An indispensable part of my life. I am sure all of us would agree no less!

Our visit to Vividh Bharati.org supplements our memories through a documentary एकवृत्तचित्र :सुरोंकासुनहरासफ़र– विविधभारती.

As Always, we turn to Mohammad Rafi:

Dr.SouvikChatterji –Magic combination of Guru Dutt and Mohammad Rafi

The uniqueness of Guru Dutt’s relationship with Rafi lies in the fact that whether the composer was OP Nayyar or Shankar Jaikishan or SD Burman or Ravi, the music composed for whom had philosophical thoughts embedded in them and Rafi gave expression to the mesmerizing lyrics of evergreen tunes which had become immortal over a period of time.

B.Koshy  –Profoundness of Rafi Sahab’s tonal pattern cannot be measured by human competences– has presented a quite a detailed analysis and comparison of the tonal pattern of  leading male singers of that period.

As can be expected, Santhanakrishnan Srinivasan is all praise for Rafiji’s Voice Range. He has presented a number of songs, across a wide range of music directors in this article, in support of his fervent views.

We also have an interview of Sudha Malhotra – AISE THEY RAFI SAHAB ALL ROUNDER, recorded especially on 33^rd Death Anniversary of Rafi Sahab.

I look forward to your ever encouraging response, as well as inputs to enrich the content…….

Remembering Suchitra Sen

‘Sir’ wouldn’t lose her sleep over awards – Excerpts from an interview by Gulzar –

This respect for an actress was unique. No other actress before her or since has been accorded this status — not even highly regarded names like Nutan, Nargis or Suraiya.

It’s true that some of this regard — or awe, some may say — was created by keeping people at a distance. But it wasn’t an “I don’t care” attitude; she was very reserved because she was very careful with her personal life. I don’t know what happened in her personal life but I found that she never indulged in any loose talk. Koi faltu baat nahin karti thee, kabhi bhi. But though she habitually kept people at abeyance, once she accepted someone, s/he became part of her “family”.

Enigma extraordinaire –

She was an icon beyond the Uttam-Suchitra genre. Her most acclaimed performances in Asit Sen’s ‘Deep Jwele Jai’ (1959) opposite Basanta Choudhury and Ajoy Kar’s ‘Saat Pake Bandha’ (1963) opposite Soumitra Chatterjee gave her the quality of the unattainable, tragic enigma. Her defined make-up, the soft focus, black and white close-ups and her famous mannerisms, as opposed to Uttam’s naturalistic style, made Suchitra the truly exclusive star.

Sen had a brief innings in Bombay when she worked with the likes of Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand, but she was in every sense a Bengali icon.

Suchitra Sen, Bengal’s sweetheart Written by Gitanjali Roy

Six decades ago, long before Aishwarya Rai and Kareena Kapoor set out to prove that married actresses  could be celluloid heroines, a 21-year-old actress was single-handedly leading the charge in Bengal.

By the time she had her first big hit in 1953’s Sharey Chuattor opposite Uttam Kumar, the man who was to be one-half of Bengali cinema’s most revered screen couple with her, Suchitra Sen had already been married six years and was the mother of five-year-old Moon Moon.

Suchitra Sen – The Greta Garbo of Indian Cinema

Expressive eyes, bewitching smile and subtle gestures – all this define the beauty of the late actress Suchitra Sen. Called ‘The Greta Garbo’ of the Indian cinema by filmmaker Gautam Ghose, there was something to her, that even after going into recluse in the mid-seventies, her memories are still fresh. We remember the late actress.

A rare glimpse into the reclusive Suchitra Sen’s life

Journalist Gopal Kumar Roy, one of the few people to have access to Suchitra Sen ever since she retired from public life, on how she became a recluse.

Suchitra Sen (1931 – 2014): Forever young  – Maitreyee B Chowdhury

To many she was the diva, to me she was a woman who while relishing her stardom also loved living, tremendously. She could be flirtatious, glamorous, spiritual, all in one go. Difficult as it might seem, Suchitra Sen was actually all of these and perhaps more. As a diva, she did the unimaginable by prancing around in a towel for photographer Dhiren Deb. A photograph that drove her fans crazy and yet such was her star power that none of this ever made her look cheap.

RIP Suchitra Sen. It is the end of a fairytale -by Deepanjana Pal

Few people in show business can say that they have been remembered only for the work they’ve done.

Ironically, despite Sen’s modest acting talent, she is remembered exclusively for her films. Her personal life could easily have become the stuff of gossip but Sen preserved her privacy zealously.

The wrong cheek – Suchitra Sen

Photographer Dhiren Dev insists the taboo was painted on Suchitra’s cheek, not on the photo

Her Hindi Films

Devdas (1955) – Dilip Kumar||

Musafir (1957) – Dilipkumar ||

Champakali (1957) – Bharat Bhushan ||

Sarhad (1960) – Dev Anand ||

Bombai Ka Baboo (1960) – Dev Anand ||

Mamta (1966) – Ashok Kumar ||

Aandhi (1975) – Sanjeev Kumar

Here is a collection of tributes that have flowed in on the media:

Bengali cinema’s golden queen Suchitra Sen no more

Suchitra Sen’s presence was felt everywhere: Sharmila Tagore

Suchitra Sen passes away

Bengali Veteran Actress Suchitra Sen Passes Away

Suchitra Sen, Indian actor and Bengali screen legend, dies

Suchitra Sen: So far, yet so near – Upala Sen, Hindustan Times

Suchitra Sen: after the magic moments Gautaman Bhaskaran , Hindustantimes.com

Veteran actor Suchitra Sen dies at 82

Life and Times of Suchitra Sen

Suchitra Sen: The reclusive star –  Shamik Bag – Bengali cinema’s star and feminine authority, who died at the age of 83 in Kolkata, is known only through her films

Suchitra Sen, Actress famed in Bengali Cinema, dies at 82 by Haren Pandya

Suchitra Sen: Iconic Indian Bengali actress dies

Video and Photo slideshows:

Tere Bina Zindagi Se – A Tribute To Suchitra Sen – http://youtu.be/WItLah8nvfU

Suchitra- the star who became invisible

Suchitra Sen- the actor who entered into films five years after her marriage made an indelible mark in Bengali film industry for more than two decades. The evergreen pair of Uttam Kumar- Suchitra Sen is still a talking point in Tollywood. A pictorial tribute by V. B. Ganesan

Suchitra Sen (1931-2014): 10 Stunning Pictures Of India’s Greta Garbo

Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – January 2014

Welcome to January 2014 edition of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

Last year each of our carnival-post simply presented as much as wide choice of articles/ blogs/ sites on the core subject as well as articles that had indirect, but quite strong direction to of Quality. Moreover, we had settled on regular features of, a look at a National / International Body engaged in the field of promoting Quality,  ASQ Video, ASQ Influential Voice and John Hunter’s Management Improvement Carnivals.

For 2014, we would add one more flavor – articles/ blogs/ sites related to a specific Topic.

For the present edition, we would enlist some such links to Cost of Quality.

• Quality costs – In process improvement efforts, quality costs or cost of quality is a means to quantify the total cost of quality-related efforts and deficiencies.

• Cost of Quality – The countless, unseen details are often the only difference between Mediocre and Magnificent.

Cost of Quality Basics (CoQ) – The figure below shows the 4 major categories for Quality Costs and examples within each area.

          The four major categories are:

Prevention Costs

Appraisal Costs

Internal Failure Costs

External Failure Costs

• Cost of Quality Definition – Posted by Matthew Littlefield

At the highest level, there are two different terms in the Cost of Quality equation: the Cost of Good Quality (CoGQ) and the Cost of Poor Quality (CoPQ). This can be understood in the below formula:

                               CoQ = CoGQ + CoPQ

• Cost of Quality (COQ)

Quality costs are the total of the cost incurred by:

– Investing in the prevention of nonconformance to requirements.
– Appraising a product or service for conformance to requirements.
– Failing to meet requirements.

• LNS Research’s ‘Cost of Quality’ category of articles

• QualityAmerica.com has lined up several articles:

Cost of Quality Overview – An excerpt from the Handbook for Quality Management (2000, QA Publishing, LLC) by Thomas Pyzdek contains links to following other articles:

Goal of Quality Cost System

Strategy for Reducing Quality Costs

Management of Quality Costs

Cost of Quality Examples

Use of Quality Costs

Benefits of Quality Cost Reduction

• Using Cost of Quality to Improve Business Results – Since centering improvement efforts on cost of quality, CRC Industries has reduced failure dollars as a percentage of sales and saved hundreds of thousands of dollars. April 2006.

• Cost of Quality: Why More Organizations Do Not Use It Effectively –  Quality managers in organizations that do not track cost of quality (COQ) cite as reasons a lack of management support for quality control, time and cost of COQ tracking, lack of knowledge of how to track data and lack of basic cost data.

• The Tip of the Iceberg  – A Six Sigma initiative focused on reducing the costs of poor quality enables management to reap increased customer satisfaction and bottom-line results.

• Cost of Quality (COQ): Which Collection System Should Be Used?  –  This article identifies the various COQ systems available and the benefits and disadvantages of using each system.

• Cost of Quality CoQ – by Sanjeev Dhavan @ TQM School

• Total Cost of Quality for the Total Picture The CoQ model, also known as The Economic Conformance Model, shows us the rising costs associated with proactive management of quality as compared to the decreasing costs associated with improving quality.

• The Tip of Iceberg – When Accounting for Quality, don’t Forget the Often Hidden Costs of Poor Quality – By Joseph A. DeFoe

• Influence of Quality Costs on Achieving the Quality Goals Pravidic` Predrag

• Cost of Quality as Driver of Continuous Improvement – Roger E Olson

• Triarchy Press – Audit Your Cost of Quality – Andrew Carey – An outline guide to identifying waste, rework and unnecessary costs in your organization

• A Review of Research on Cost of Quality Models and Best Practices – Andrea Schiffauerova , Vince Thomson – This article presents a survey of published literature about various quality costing approaches and reports of their success in order to provide a better understanding of  Cost of Quality (CoQ) methods.

Slideshare shows 50,394 results for “Cost of Quality”

• Presentation from 2011 Quality Conference of the Carolinas. Presenter: Marc Leclair : Cost of Quality

We now move on to take a look at the other articles/ blogs/ sites:

Does Management By Objectives Stifle Excellence? By John Dyer, President, JD&A — Process Innovation Company

Setting arbitrary goals can hamper the ability to improve dramatically – or drive the wrong improvement behaviors entirely.

When Systems Rule…And When They Don’t By Mathew E, May @ EditInnovation

I’ve been thinking about how bad they are, and how a good person up against a bad system stands little chance……on an anything BUT a level playing field. With another system outside the one you’re up against, one that allows you to get to the genesis of the system you want to defeat–the people who created it and tell it what to do in the first place.

You CANNOT do it from within the system! (This is why most systemic change happens only when leadership changes hands.)

Should it be this hard to change a system? Should the normal situation be that when you put a good person in a bad system, the system automatically wins?

I don’t think so. A good system must be more dynamic, more user-focused. … Change needn’t always come from an outsider.

Systems should have learning and improving built in. They should engender trust through transparency.

So why don’t they, by and large?

Systems–and systems thinking–have great relevance to what everyone in business is striving for these days: a strong culture of innovation. The focus in popular business press is on the visible part, the culture. I think it’s a red herring.

I think that if you want to create a strong culture, you have to focus on the thing on which culture rests: the system.

Making Better Decisions over Time by Phil Rosenzweig @ Strategy+Business

The technique of deliberate practice can dramatically improve performance, but knowing its limits is as important as understanding its value.

Next, we turn our sails to a National Body, furthering the cause of Quality.  In the present edition we visit, wherein Indian Merchant Chamber  Ramkrishna Bajaj National Quality Award process recipients of various recognition levels are required to share information on their successful performance and quality strategies with other Indian organizations. The IMC Juran Quality Medal was instituted by the IMC RBNQA Trust to recognize individual excellence on criteria articulated by Dr. J M Juran, the renowned Quality Guru.

And then move over to ASQ TV Episode –  Risk Management and Quality

Organizations perceive risk management in three general ways. Carol Fox, Director, Strategic and Enterprise Risk Practice, RIMS, describes the way organizations think about risk management, how risk management is evolving and why the quality community is essential to the company’s risk management function.

Our ASQ’s Influential Voice for the month is – : Cesar Diaz Guevara

Cesar Diaz Guevara is ASQ’s Country Councilor in Ecuador, where he lives and blogs. He has a background in project analysis, quality systems, and quality management. He writes in English and Spanish @ Calidad y Actitud.

Cesar Diaz Guevara’s quality ethos is summed up in one sentence: A Quality time is a time when we enjoy what we do, and in turn we provide Quality service to other human beings.

And we finally round up our present edition with Management Improvement Carnival – 2013 Edition – Tanmay Vora @ QAspire.com has been hosting the annual management improvement carnival (organized by John Hunter) for last 3 years. This year,  Tanmay Vora has reviewed  three blogs, featuring their best 3 posts that he enjoyed reading.

The blogs and respective posts are:

Jesse Lyn Stoner’s Blog

Why Good Teams Make Bad Decisions

The 12 Skills of Brilliant Team Members

The Six Benchmarks of High Performance Teams

James Lawther’s SquawkPoint Blog

The Simple Reason People Won’t do as You Ask

Is Your Boss Really That Stupid?

How to Sink a Ship

Jamie Flinchbaugh

Executives can’t do it alone, and must be masters of developing people

The difference between tension and stress

Integrity…don’t leave home without it

And a bonus of Related Posts, as well:

1. People Focus – 2010 Management Improvement Carnival
2. Annual Management Improvement Carnival: Edition 1 (2011)
3. Annual Management Improvement Carnival: Edition 2 (2011)
4. Management Improvement Carnival: 2012 Edition

I look forward to your active participation in enriching the blog carnival  as we pursue our journey through 2014…………….

Thawing of a 40- year-old iceberg

January 3^rd to 5th, 2014 was BITS Alumni Association’s Global Meet, at BITS Hyderabad campus.

O P Jagetiya, while shouldering lead responsibilities in arranging the logistics for the event, lost no opportunity to let the process of thawing in motion for the 1971 (-1973) M BA batch’s virtually defunct contacts.

O P Jagetiya took extra pains to get the 1971-1973 MBA Batch to on the same page. When all was said and done, (from R to L in the photograph here) Vinod Laroya, K Shantikumar Prakash Bhalerao, Yours Truly , O P Jagetiya  himself and  Santosh Kumar Hamirwasia and made it to this event.

1971 MBA Batchmates at BGM 2014

The beauty of this re-union was that we simply put the yawning gap of 40 years aside and carried on as if we had re-assembled after our semester break.

We are now committed to:

1. To arrange a get-together, at least once every alternate year
2. To bring contact particulars of all our batchmates on one spreadsheet.
3. Maintain live contact