Super - Size it!

Downgrades are not good. It is true for all things including bonuses, stock values and airline seats and the only ones that have made me happy, until last week at least, are tax cuts. But when I fit snugly into "medium" sized sweaters for the first time in my life (after I became large, that is) it was one those "Aha!" moments, that I could have captured and framed for eternity in my living room; more so, since I have achieved this by running 100 miles per month (5 miles/day) for the last 3 months and not by liposuction as I had originally intended to do so!

I have always felt that the clothing companies should do to apparel, what Starbucks has done to coffee cups. The official Starbucks sizing scheme mixes pretentious use of Italian, and lies. The correlation goes roughly like this:

• "Tall", which in the context of a drink seems synonymous with "large",
• "Grande", which of course is Italian for "big", and
• "Venti", which means "twenty," the number of ounces.

They all mean - "a large cup of coffee".

Small, medium and large, in the context of clothes, on the other hand, are synonymous with "undernourished for an adult", "on the verge of obesity" and "obese", respectively. Other superlative extrapolations on either side, paradoxically, are not so superlative and only make things worse. In other words, no size is good.

One of my most embarrassing moments while shopping has always been when the girl at the showroom asks "What size are you, Sir?" and I reply "I am Large". Now, that just doesn't sound right. Also, why should a CSR be privy to the facts only my wife and doc know - that I am lazy, have lived in Wisconsin, and have a BMI of over 30?

So, here are my suggestions for clothes sizes:

• "Zippy", which means active or energetic
  
• "Zappy", which also means active or energetic, and
  
• "Zesty"; well, they all mean the same.

Now that's what I call super-sizing, a pretentious mix of English, and lies. More importantly, it makes anyone associated with these adjectives feel like they are on top of the world! Thats more than a good reason to go on a shopping spree.

Rajnikanth - Entertainer of the year 2007

"I am back", ala Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator II. It is finally nice to get back to blogging after a busy holiday season, travel, work, GMAT etc.

Came across this piece of news about Rajinikanth winning the NDTV Entertainer of the Year 2007 award from Dr. Manmohan Singh. Terrific speech in typical Rajni style, spiced up with questions from Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar. I loved his answer when cryptically asked "Is there anything Rajni kant do?"; he had the humor to respond with silence, which only he could have gotten away with it. Excellent viewing.

More importantly, it is the first time that a national level populist award (I am discounting National Awards since it is more to do with politics than anything else), usually the birthright of Bollywood, has been given to Kollywood. Nice trend indeed.