Perception

I scored an invitation to one of IDEO London’s Big Wednesday gatherings. They turn a whole floor of their building into a big seminar/party space and gather some interesting speakers – this time on the topic of “perception”. The party trick of the evening was to ambush everyone with a polaroid camera upon entry, mugshot-style, and then stick the photo on pasteboard with an invitation to draw a self-portrait.

Because I’m vain I got two photos taken of me, but because the “wrong” one was much more interesting, I ended up drawing next to it instead of the second one.

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Bollywood virgin

My credentials as a public intellectual are somewhat skimpy, but at least I’ve been on the BBC.

Too bad that they wanted me for my ignorance.

I spent Friday afternoon in the desolate, air-conditioned depths of the Wandsworth Cineplex, watching Dhamaal, a Bollywood remake of It’s a Mad Mad World. Good fun, actually, but it would have been more fun if there had been more people in the theatre than myself and four others. Then, on Saturday morning I trekked up to White City to go on the BBC Asian Network radio show Love Bollywood, and flaunted my “Bollywood virginity” on the publicly funded airwaves.

Being interviewed precisely because you know nothing about what’s under discussion frees you from all anxieties of expertise and authority. Nobody is going to take me seriously on the topic of Bollywood film anyway, so I can say what I want without any risk to my academic career and credibility. And Raj and Pablo were incredibly nice, even if they weren’t particularly impressed with the film we were discussing.

Great fun. Definitely worth getting up for at 7am on a Saturday morning.

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