Ever since Ott platforms have made their way into India, The content option to choose from is huge, You have American Movies, Series to choose from, You have British content to choose and you have the rise of K-Drama, Yakuza’s from Japan to choose from and you have rising options from Latin America and Europe to choose from.
When you have so much choice ,You observe the stories coming from these countries, you notice
Most of the American shows are only highlighting – Race, Identity , law, Super hero’s and supernatural power . A lot of the series are about colour people’s struggle and identity.
British series are all about the Royal family and politics. Series like Crown, Bridgeton, Peaky Blinders.
The content from Korea is all about Escaping, boundaries, Technology and Social Media, Topics which are more current and appealing.
Japan series are all about their food and the relationship with their loved ones, loneliness and storytelling.
Latin America series are all about powerful families and their secrets, Mafia and hunger to control their identity.
European series are about Murders in Scandinavian countries, Cult leader following and humanity with adaption like Man called Otto and Anxious People.
Indian content is also more dominant with the D-world, Gangster control, Corruption and Scams.
Australian series, haven’t made a mark on the platform besides their popular show like Masterchef and food shows. When it comes to fiction. They do have a lot of shows on Politics and the system. Secret City & Stateless as two interesting series.
But, yet when it comes we don’t experiment with the content we stream. We would still watch only American & British and often complain, for it’s lack of interesting stories.
Today, we have a variety of global content to choose from and we still choose the same stories, What makes us avoid experimenting, We are anyways being charged for the month and year, we wouldn’t be paying extra if we shift our content preferences to experiment.
If we don’t experiment with content, We would have makers making the same thing that has a set formula that they believe works globally. But does it work?
The 25+ Hours journey through the UK to Sao Paulo was slightly tiring.
The first impression, Sao Paulo is a huge city!
The architecture and construction are lovely.
Water! No Water in the rooms! This was going to become a common observation as we would travel around the country!
The restaurants too don’t serve you water.
This was quite alarming, Maybe the water isn’t quite hygienic here! Or maybe they aren’t hospitable or maybe they are going through a Water Crisis.
Sao Paulo had the appeal of New York, Wall Street and Fifth Avenue. The Liberade, Japanese Neibhourhood did remind me of being lost in Japan!
The Food whether it was the local Brazilian Meat, Mexican Gucaomole, American Burgers, Italian Pizza, Thai or Japanese was the best in Sao Paulo. In the places we visited, we realised they were either part of the best Restaurants in the World and Latin America or were part of the Michelin restaurant guide.
The Cafes and coffee were also some of the finest we had here in the city!
Rosewood in Sao Paulo. Ranked #25 in the Worlds best was truly an experience. Walking into the lush green arches and being welcomed by books at the entrance/Waiting area. As you make yourself comfortable through the hotel you pass through a couple of more coffee table bookshelves before you reach the restaurant, which you feel is in the middle of the forest.
The Acai Berry Smoothie, Pastrami Sandwich and Burger were the juiciest, healthiest and most satisfying meals of our trip.
Rosewood was a nice experience.
The city, Was so clean with ample of dustbins, unlike Japan. Where you struggle to find even one.
The shopping malls, Each one competing with the size and the interiors.
The weather, Yes, we did feel the heat waves.
The roads were so broad and well-maintained. It was a challenge to find even one pothole in the country.
Rio was a tourist hub, and so was our instruction. Be extra careful while walking on the streets of Rio, After 5 pm avoid strolling on the street with Mobile Phones, Jewellery or Watches/Smart Watches.
The Sugarloaf Mountain & Christ The Redeemer have to be our typical tourist highlight. One for the sunset view and the other for getting the structure to the top.
Copacabana Beach was going through a post-event pack-up! Madonna had performed a free concert two days before we planned to reach Rio de Janeiro.
Language is a huge barrier! The locals don’t understand English and as Tourist, we had no understanding of Portuguese.
Brazil has their measurement too!
P being M , The universal Medium size, G being large, GG being Extra large in clothing. For Footwear too, they are normally a size or two smaller than the Typical US sizes one Wears.
Salvador was a small quaint colourful city that would remind you a lot about Europe’s small towns.
While travelling across the city we flew through GOl or Latam. The local airlines of Brazil were always on time and internally we travelled through the Uber App with minimum communication!
Oh! One thing that was a huge disappointment was Google Maps! Often they did not take us at the right location, either 100 meters away from our location or would be pinned at another entrance/Exit of the same location.
The Google Maps, were always not updated with locations that had been permanently closed or had being relocated to another location.
In both of these times, We were faced with challenges on how to communicate to the exact location.
While planning Brazil I had also noted a few bookstores I wanted to visit in Brazil!
To my disappointment both of the bookstores that were listed for the longest time as the most beautiful bookstores in the world had been closed now! One in Sao PauloAnd the other in Rio. While I visited other bookstores across the cities. There weren’t any books available in English at all.
Brazil with two of the most prominent global events like FIFA and the Olympics in the past decade is still not considered a Tourist Destination. With Food options, the Weather being pleasant, Globally recognised homegrown Fashion brands and Warm and friendly people you wonder if the Country’s not being Safe Image is playing a key role in tourism.
Eat: #saopaulo @ranchoportuguessp @nbsteak @michelinguide @aizomerestaurante – Part of @theworlds50best #latinamerica @pingyangsp – #11 Best Place to eat in #Brazil
Taro Sushi – Michelinguide
@rosewoodsaopaulo -#25 Worlds Best Hotel @theworlds50best @sisenorbrasil @brazpizzaria – #4 best pizzeria brand in the World @pecorinoteresina @apizzadamooca – #77 in the Worlds Best Pizza
Chocolates: #brazil @dengochocolates @kopenhagen_
Personal favourite for Shopping : @farmrio @osklen
The 21st Edition of the World Cupthat began in 1930 had been full of surprises and Shocks.
It began with Realising Italy wasn’t part of this edition for the first time in 60 Years
Then Came theSaudi Arabian side who played their first ever World Cup in the 21st edition since the championship has been taking place.
And Iceland had became the smallest nation to qualify in this year editions and had the Support of the country people came down to Russia for their Games.
They did give it a fight,But weren’t really as good as the teams they were grouped with.
But,This is just the beginning for them.
From the World class team nations like Brazil– Who were as always expected to qualify from the group stage and Qualified for the Quarters were a complete disappointment.The Country that’s been 5 times Champions Had only one team player they were dependent on – Neymar.
Argentina captain Messi -Messed up the game
Cristiano Ronaldo proved himself by Scoring Goals,But the Team did not Qualify to the next stage of Semi’s and the Dream of Ronaldo wining the cup must have ended forever.
Uruguay proved themselves yet again.But France was Better then them.
Spain was utter disappointment as they seemed overconfident against the host.
Sweden was a pleasant surprise.
Germany the Champions of 2014 just did not have luck by their side.
With the Top 4 France,Belgium, Croatia and England part of the last stage, It seemed more like a Euro league with not a single South American team qualifying this time.
Croatia seemed like the Best side in the World Cup this time.As since 1998 was the only time they appeared in the semi’s against France and 20 years later they played England and the 5 times they have qualified they hardly progressed to the next stage.
Belgium since the last edition of the World Cup has only become a better side as this time they qualified for the Semis and had some great come backs in the games which they nearly lost.But unfortunately couldn’t make it to the finals
It’s was hard to believe the French hadn’t won a title again until 20 years ago.The last time they came close to victory was in Germany 12 Years ago and were Runner up’s.
The English Team- A team that’s not won in 52 Years. A team in the last 4 World Cup that faced challenges to even qualify to the stages closer to the final one.
This year too,The English team failed to qualify to final and even finished 4th .The wait will Continue.
The Croatian team had reached the finals and it was hard to believe this side had played for the first time 20 years ago in 1998 when we saw them play and they had finished 3rd In the competition.Now 20 years later they played the team they lost to in the semifinal of 1998 FIFA World Cup and my they were unstoppable but they couldn’t really win the World Cup.France was the Best.
France coach Dider Deschamps is only the Third Man, after Mario Zagallo from Brazil who captained his side to two successive World Cup titles (1958& 1962 ) and 1970 as a coach and Franz Beckenbauer from Germany who won the cup for the team in 1974 & in 1990 as a coach, to winning the Cup as a captain in 1998 and as a coach for the country in 2018.
A K H I L N A N D A 