The Mathematics of Globalization
Left: Stewartia Pseudocamilia, 1997.
As my winter weary mind eagerly awaits for the parcel of lily tree bulbs, mother nature sent me a free and generous gift of 9″ of snow! The shipping and handling was free too! As I stare at the snow white landscape from my window, I can’t help but think how the same season is spoken about in different moods, in different cultures. In the West winter is associated with old age. You know how it is said “Old man winter is here“. There was a Hindi movie in which the hero and heroin are enjoying a date in the outdoors with snow. They sing a song “Mausam pay javani hai …” (The season has a youthful look). In the West summer is associated with youth. Hence I am attaching a youthful painting of summer in the jawan (young) colors of snow!
These cross-cultural thoughts lead me to think about Bollywood (the Indian film industry in Mumbai, India) and globalization. Globalization is churning the world and in doing so strange things are happening at the global level. Take for instance the merger of companies. The merger of Mittal Steel and Arcelor Steel is now called ArcelorMittal. But if you look at Arcelor under the lens it is really a mathematical equation, which can be put as follows:
Arcelor = Arbed (in Luxembourg) + Usinor (in France) + Aceralia (in Spain)
Hence ArcelorMittal is:
ArcelorMittal = Arcelor + Mittal ( U.K.)
= Arbed + Usinor + Aceralia + Mittal
A similar thing is happening in Bollywood. Somehow I get the feeling that there is a shortage of new stories to be made into new movies at Bollywood. Let me explain. Last year on a deluxe bus ride from Nasik to Mumbai, I got to see a movie called Cash. You know watching a movie in a bus is like tasting free bad wine at a winery! I was tired so I chose to sleep instead. But every now and then I would awake due to bumps on the road or when the bus stopped to pick up more people and pay tolls etc. It was during these interruptions that I caught a few glimpses of this movie. But each time I saw it, it seemed similar to a different Western movie. Mind you, I still don’t know the story of Cash, but to me it appeared to have the following mathematical formula:
Cash = (James Bond thriller + Oceans 11 + Thomas Crown Affair + Indiana Jones) x presentation of ‘Who framed Roger Rabbit’
The last aspect was due to its combination of real movie and animation. Now that is definitely how the mathematics of Globalization works. It could be applied to movies or companies like ArcelorMittal. In conclusion, I would soon release another story from my book, which I think can be made into a wonderful movie by Bollywood. Shape of things to come on this blog 
Ratna
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Think Globally, act locally.
-New age mantra
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You’re currently reading “The Mathematics of Globalization,” an entry on Creative Joys
- Published:
- February 25, 2008 / 1:06 pm
- Category:
- Watercolor Painting, Writing
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