Nonsensical crap

Happy new year

2010-01-03T03:12:00.004-05:00

Though this blog seldom gets any hits, here's wishing whoever's reading this a very happy new year 2010. The last decade was a roller-coaster ride. Last few months of school, 4 fun-filled years of college, more than 5 years as a computer professional in 4 cities in 2 different countries, some great relationships made, some painful separations, some celebrations missed, more introspection about life, some amount of community service et cetera et cetera. Phew! I hope the coming decade has more surprises in store for all of us.

I hope to update this blog more often in the coming days. The last few days have been fun. I had been to Orlando with my roomies for Christmas holidays. Xmas at Disney's Magic Kingdom was simply magical! We also visited Disney's Hollywood Studios and the theme parks at Universal. It was a very good break from work and it was really heartening to see so many people having unlimited fun at the parks. It was as if we had become kids all over again.

Recent Movies
Saw Avatar in normal 3-D as part of our office's holiday party. Sad part is we had to sit in the very front row and watch the movie. The movie is made brilliantly and it sure is a visual treat. But the front-row effect was too much that I developed a bad headache towards the end of the movie and couldn't resist dozing off the last few minutes. Been trying to watch the movie one more time in IMAX without any success.

Three Idiots was on our menu for New Year's Eve. I liked the movie very much. Loosely based on the book 'Five Point Someone', Aamir Khan & Rajkumar Hirani have taken a strong stance against the Indian education system and spiced it up with some really hilarious scenes and deft screenplay. Though the movie has shades of Taare Zameen Par & Munna Bhai MBBS, it is still funny, enjoyable and one of the best movies I have seen in recent times.

'Avatar at IMAX Sold out' meant Up in the Air for us tonight. This is one stylishly made movie and I liked it a lot. George Clooney is suave as ever and plays his part to perfection. The movie is about a man who is on the road for most part of his life, who is obsessed with flying 10 million miles, who is a non-believer in relationships and who finally falls for a woman only to find that she is married and has a family. You will like this movie if you have an ear for conversations and arguments. It somehow reminded me of another movie 'Before Sunset' (there is a sequel too which is called 'After Sunset') where pointless conversations make most part of the movie. Up in the Air is ultra cool.

Till next time, adios!

Test

2009-12-23T02:40:00.001-05:00

From Ipod blog application..

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

2009-08-29T10:52:00.008-04:00

Mind-blowing!

Initially, I thought this is going to be one English movie which I cannot watch without subtitles, but as the movie went along, I was proved wrong . Deserves special recognition for the thought behind making this kind of a movie, which for the most part happens within one man's mind.

PS: I think I would anyway be watching it one more time (yeah, with the subtitles).

One of those days..

2009-08-25T23:31:00.004-04:00

..when you feel hopelessly bored, unimportant, powerless and keep thinking that you are the biggest loser in the entire world..

The Boy In The Striped Pajamas

2009-08-19T18:46:00.007-04:00

Apart from a few scenes from the Rocky series on TV last weekend, it has been a long time since I saw any movies. Yesterday's early dinner (at 11.30 PM) permitted for some entertainment time and I was all set with my laptop and speakers by my bed. After browsing Netflix online movies for a few minutes, I came across the movie 'The Boy In The Striped Pajamas'. I remembered the movie from a blog that a colleague had written a few months back (when i was in India). He had rated the movie very highly and before spending too much time on recollecting the storyline, I clicked on 'Play' and started watching the movie.

The movie is set around Holocaust during World War II and is about the friendship between a German boy, son of a SS officer and a Jewish boy, who is in a nearby Nazi concentration camp. The movie begins with a beautiful quote by John Betjeman - "Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows" and goes on to show the events and brutalities of the Holocaust through the eyes of the young boy. I liked the movie very much for a) the simple story b) commendable portrayals by the actors and c) because I love dramatic movies based on war. During the course of the movie, scenes from 2 other favourite films - Schindler's List and Life is Beautiful kept flashing in my mind mainly because of the similar dramatic setup in both the movies. I was googling for more information on the book that the movie was based upon and have placed a request for it in the local public library.

Bottomline - Movie after a long time, that too a very good one - I am happy.

Gods incarnated

2009-08-16T17:19:00.005-04:00

1) A R Rahman
2) Sachin Tendulkar
3) Roger Federer

.. in that particular order.

Declaration

2009-08-03T22:06:00.002-04:00

I, hereby officially declare, today - the 3rd of August, 2009 as the best day in my short tennis playing career so far. Period.

Games from once upon a time

2009-05-11T12:51:00.002-04:00

"America!" screamed Ranjit as he threw the twig in his hand into a square area inside which I was standing. As the two others ran along with him in different directions, I scrambled to touch the twig...

I was somehow reminded of this article written long back by Vijay Premkumar, who used to work at Infosys. I had relished this article so much but never took a copy of it. Thanks to Google, I was able to locate it on Zine5. Read the rest of the article here.

Re-reading it, I can't help but feel nostalgic about the games I used to play during childhood. Apart from regulars like cricket, badminton and the other creative games mentioned in Vijay's post, there were Kings, Seven stones, French Cricket, Mudhugu Puncture, Goli, Pambaram, Alias Boys aka Hide and Seek etc. In fact, my brother and my cousin invented an indoor game all by themselves and called it Chess Cricket!

Kings is an outdoor tennis/rubber ball game and can be played with any number more than 4. Objective - The catcher has to hit the rest below the knee with the ball and make them out. To begin with, there will one dummy helper for the catcher and once a person is knocked below the knee, the helper swaps with the one who just got out. The game ends when the last person gets out. The first one who got out becomes the catcher for the next game and the previous catcher becomes his first helper.

Seven stones is played between 2 teams each sized 3 or more. Seven small stones are piled up to form a tower and one person from Team A throws the ball from around a cricket pitch's distance to dislodge the stones. He gets 3 chances to do so failing which the other team gets the chance. Once the stones are scattered say by Team A, the objective of Team B is to rebuild the tower with the seven stones and then draw a circle around it 3 times. Team A's objective is to hit Team B's members and get them out before they accomplish the objective.

French cricket was one brilliant piece of innovation. Like cricket, you have 2 teams, you have a batsman, bowler and fielders. However there is no non-striker here. The batsman stands inside a circle of radius equal to the bat's length and has to hit the balls fired at him. Runs are not run. Instead it is calculated by the number of revolutions made with the bat by the batsman around himself. The batsman is allowed to rotate the bat until he is faced with the next ball which will be a throw from the fielder of the previous ball. You can get out by 1)not putting bat to ball 3 consecutive times 2)getting hit below the knee and 3)giving a catch. I have a lot of 50s to my credit in my brief French cricket career! :D

Mudhugu Puncture translates to Upper Back Puncture. It is always played with a hard rubber ball. The one catcher and one helper rule of Kings applies here too. Objective is to hit the others in the upper portion of their back and get them out. Man, this is one violent game and people love to settle old scores with brutal hits.

Goli or marbles is a very interesting game and can be played between 2 or more. The game begins by throwing each player's marble towards a small kuzhi (pit) from a fixed distance. Whoever throws nearer to the pit will get the chance to play first. Objective is to hit the other marbles to some distance and measure the distance. The unit of measurement is jawn and is equal to the distance between your index finger and thumb with all the fingers outstretched. The victory score is fixed before the game begins - usually at 100 or 200. In case you are playing with bigger dooma golis, the target is set at 400 or 500. I always used to have a short boy to do the measuring for me - small fingers you see! :)

Pambaram or Top - I tried a lot to get expertise in this game, but didn't get much success. In fact, I have forgotten the rules of the game too. It begins with all tops being placed at the centre of a big circle and then each one get his turn to hit the other tops. A top shot was a haaker which would leave an impression on the top which was hit. Classic pambaram players, please help with the rules!!

And then there is our in-house invention - Chess cricket. One room is required to play this game. The players of the game are Chess coins! Yes, 11 players per side. Identical coins will be painted or pasted with a paper in order to distinguish from the other(s). A small plastic ball was used. Stumps were made of plastic substances (don't exactly remember what).The only human interaction is for bowling and keeping. A cardboard not so long was used as the bat. Boundaries will be defined. Fielding will be set - chess coins placed at conventional fielding positions. The human bowler will drag the chess coin bowler along and then fire the ball towards the chess coin batsman with the cardboard bat. The human keeper will do the manual catching if it is within his range. On other occasions, the keeper will assist in running between the wickets of the batsmen. In fact, we have had a lot of instances when chess coins have taken catches without human help. The ball will skid off the cardboard and hit some chess coin fielder before pitching and that's it - A catch! This game was a favourite pastime in our summer holidays particularly around the noon time. We would play 10 overs per side and the match would finish in about an hour or two. To add some spice to the matches, we would name each chess player, have a captain and standard set of bowlers and batsmen in each side. I still remember a bishop who was named Maninder Singh because of the shape of the coin and guess what, he was the star spinner of the side!! Ah, I miss those days..

PS: I am just a little bit doubtful about some rules of some games. Please correct me if I am wrong somewhere.

Random ramblings

2009-04-23T01:27:00.011-04:00

The past one or two weeks have been really boring. News about recession, layoffs is adding salt to the wounds. OK, I will cut the crap, but I really have no idea why I am writing this - yeah, maybe out of sheer boredom.

IPL Season 2 is underway in South Africa. I did not follow the inaugural IPL keenly because of geographical constraints. This year too I did not find it very much interesting to begin with. But as any Indian cricket lover would admit, I cannot stay away from it completely and I do try to catch some overs here and there when I am around at home. If the initial few games are any indicator, I think Deccan Chargers are serious title-contenders this time. Team composition wise, Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians appear mighty good. But you never know. If you ask me to point out one good thing out of the 'IPL moving to South Africa' drama - I would say it's "the first time onsite opportunity" for some of the fledgling domestic cricketers. Have a ball, boys!

I am sure most of you would have already checked out Cricinfo's IPL Page 2. Man, they never cease to amaze! Just the right kind of wacky site for the slam-bang tournament with a tinge of Bollywood. Also, Fake IPL Player is becoming a bigger hit than IPL 2 itself. This guy, who claims to be a KKR player, has got some real talent and I am not talking about his cricketing abilities. Some of his posts had me in splits for quite sometime. In my opinion, he should be one of the other team players or probably a member of the non-playing staff.

Advertising is THE thing in this year's IPL. In one of the first day matches, someone got out and I heard the commentator say - "That is a silly moment of success for the Mumbai Indians". I didn't get it and it was only when I heard it for the third or fourth time in one of the other matches that I came to know that it was "Citi moment of success". A wicket or a turning point is a Citi moment of success. A six is a DLF maximum! All hail Lalit Modi!!

Talking of advertisements, Vodafone have come up with another series of super ads. These ads feature a set of smiley-faced creatures with no dialogue or voice-overs, but still manage to score very very well. My personal favourite in this series is the 'Beauty alerts' one. The previous ones for 10 paise sms and 50 paise local calls were equally amazing. No wonder Ogilvy and Mather is still #1 in the advertising space. Airtel also has a history of making very good ads. The most recent ones - for their broadband services showing youngsters as restless and not wanting to wait and the one featuring Madhavan and Vidya Balan - are really good. The Madhavan-Vidya starrer centres around recession and cutbacks and if you notice keenly, Vidya is shown as reading The Economic Times in the ad, which kind of does justice to the subject of discussion. And yes, Rahman's music is super, as always!

Some events which brought a cheer recently:
1) A few weddings and a few other functions which meant catching up with some friends.
2) Pakistan's win over Australia yesterday. I think they really deserved it after all that has happened to Pakistan cricket in the last few months.
3) Indian hockey team's Azlan Shah Cup victory.
4) India U-19 cricket team's thrashing of the Aussies in the first Test and the ODI series which they won 2-1

This weekend, yours truly is headed to Wayanad (for the third time) with some college friends. I am really looking forward to cool off and escape from Chennai's scorching summer. God's own country, here I come!!

Of linguistic singers

2009-03-14T14:50:00.004-04:00

In the earlier days, Bollywood and Kollywood used to have their own set of actors, music directors and singers* but for a few exceptions. But things changed gradually and towards the end of the 20th century we began to witness a variety of talented artistes perform in both the big industries. Speaking of singers, my limited memory makes me think that SPB was the first among the singers to have sung a number of songs in both Tamil and Hindi. He shot to fame in Bollywood with Ek Duje Ke Liye and is most remembered for numbers in Maine Pyar Kiya and Hum Aapke Hain Kaun.

Here, I am going to try and make a list of singers who not only sing in both the languages, but also pronounce the lyrics properly.

1) SPB - Though his Hindi pronunciation sometimes sounds straight off the tutorial books, I think he's inevitable in this list.

2) Hariharan - It is only natural that this Mumbai Tamilian speaks and sings both the languages properly. Be it Vennilave Vennilave or Hai Rama, Hari simply rocks!

3) AR Rahman - No music list is complete without a mention of Him** ! His Hindi is near perfect (pronounces Khwab as kh-w-ab with a stress on ‘w’, but that's ok) and His Tamil is almost flawless.
4) Shankar Mahadevan – Another Mumbai-bred Tamil who is an exponent of Carnatic and Classical music.
5) Naresh Iyer – This Roobaroo lad has been going places ever since he made his debut in Rahman’s Ah Aah. He settles nicely into the elite Mumbai-Tamil singing talents along with Hari and Shankar.
6) Srinivas – Though he was recording only for Tamil films in the beginning, he showcased his Hindi-singing abilities in Kaisi Hai Yeh (DCH) and more recently, Zindagi Zindagi (Yuvvraaj).
7) Karthik – My favourite Hindi song by Karthik is Maine Ek Sapna Dekha from the album Soulfull – brainchild of an ex-colleague Megh Kalyanasundaram. His famous renditions include Girlfriend (Boys), Oru Maalai (Ghajini-Tamil), Bekha (Ghajini-Hindi), Hey Kaala Bandar (Delhi6).
8) Chitra – Her Hindi singing started with Kehna Hai Tu (Roja) and her voice has been cooing all these years with relative ease, just as her Tamil and Malayalam.
9) Chinmayee – This name has become a must in almost all ARR albums these days. Dream debuting with Oru Dheivam Thandha (Kanathil..), this multi-faceted girl has been on a roll, particularly after she sang Tera Bina in Guru along with Him.

I guess there are other female singers like Mahalakshmi Iyer, who could probably feature in the above list. I am not including them since I am a very poor identifier when it comes to female voices except for a few unique ones.

Now then, the worst pronouncers among the cross-over singers, for obvious reasons include -
1) Udit Narayan – the undisputed No.1 – almost pronounced 'Piriyamaana pennai rasikalam' as 'Periyammavin pennai rasikalam' which is ethically, morally and even musically wrong!
2) Madhushree – I sometimes wonder why ARR chooses her to sing Tamil at all.
3) Sukhvinder Singh – Though not as bad as Udit, he does his share to try and kill Tamil.
4) Sadhana Sargam – She has improved her Tamil pronunciation over the years, but still cannot escape this list.

5) Shreya Ghosal – One of my favourite singers, but her Tamil is unpassable.

6) Asha Bhosle – One of the main reasons why I don’t like songs like September Madham (Alaipayudhey)

* - I haven't included directors because people like C V Sridhar and Bhimsingh directed movies in both Hindi and Tamil even in pre-colour era.
** - Capital H intentional

oscAR Rahman Trivia

2009-02-27T10:49:00.005-05:00

Like many people, I also feel that Slumdog is not his best work till date, but he truly deserves the awards and all the recognition that are coming with them for his contribution to the world of music all these years. I saw someone quote from The Bible in a newspaper - "He who humbles himself shall be exalted". I cannot agree more.

I have always thought about the following trivia during the 90s. If you notice keenly, majority of the movies for which ARR does the score will have a song which will have its first 1/2 words repeated in the lyrics.. To cite a few examples -

Rukmani Rukmani from Roja
Pennalla Pennalla from Uzhavan
Sambo Sambo from Pudhiya Mugam
Chikku Bukku Chikku Bukku from Gentleman
Kannum Kannum from Thiruda Thiruda (Movie name too :))
Margazhi Poove Margazhi Poove from May Maadham
Thillana Thillana from Muthu
Oorvasi Oorvasi from Kaadhalan
Kathirikka Kathirikka from Duet
Uyire Uyire from Bombay
No problem No problem from Love Birds
Vennilave Vennilave from Minsara Kanavu
O Maria O Maria from Kadhalar Dhinam
Pachai Nirame Pachai Nirame from Alaipayuthey
Ale Ale from Boys
Taxi Taxi from Sakarakatti

I am sure there are others too. This could just be a normal occurrence, but it struck me as very odd way back in the late 90s. The thought crossed my mind today and hence this post.

Here's to the Mozart of Madras' journey from Kodambakkam to Kodak Theatre - Jai Ho!!

Radha Mohan - A 'beautiful' director

2009-01-04T23:20:00.005-05:00

I saw the movie Abhiyum Naanum recently with some of my friends. For those who don't know, it is a Tamil movie directed by Radha Mohan of Mozhi fame. After successes like Azhagiya Theeyae and Mozhi, the director teams up with Prakashraj's production house Duet Movies one more time and boy, don't they make a great pair? Prakashraj also plays the lead role in the movie - which is a simple story about how a dad raises his daughter and how he handles the various stages of her life and how he reacts when she gets into a relationship and finally gets married.

Whenever you see a movie and you are asked by your friends about your opinion, there are a lot of adjectives that you can use to describe the movie like - good, great, brilliant, excellent, mediocre, average, okay, poor, pathetic, sick etc. But there are only a few movies which makes you say - Beautiful ! Abhiyum is one such movie. Infact, that is the same way I felt about Radha Mohan's 2 other movies - Mozhi and Azhagiya Theeyae. I haven't seen his other movie Ponniyin Selvan, which did not get good reviews as his other movies. But I'm inclined to watch the movie just for the director even though I totally disapprove of Ravi Krishna's acting skills.

Bottomline - We are blessed to have people like Radha Mohan and Prakashraj who make sincere attempts to make Tamil cinema more beautiful.

Fab Five - Forever

2008-11-07T15:19:00.001-05:00

I found this article so much related to me that I couldn't resist linking it here.

Of Predators and Protectors

2008-08-13T01:21:00.002-04:00

2 days back, one of my friends sent me a mail with the subject "Fw: Desi guys caught on camera". The mail had a link to a video on Youtube.. I watched the video and I must admit that it made me feel a little uneasy. It was a TV show aired 2 years back which focussed on Sexual Predators trying to solicit illegal sex with minors. The program was a series on NBC TV and it was called "How to catch a predator". The motive behind the show is to lure pedophiles into traps and send them to jail and thereby induce fear among other perpetrators. The irritating fact about the video was there were a lot of Indian professionals who were busted as part of the series. Almost all of them were software engineers employed with world-class companies. It was really disturbing to see almost 6-7 desis getting caught on camera. It made me think that these guys are desa-drogis (traitors) in one way. I was discussing about this topic with a few of my friends and everyone expressed similar thoughts upon hearing and then on seeing the video.

Yesterday morning, as I was getting ready to office, I got a call from my friend and he gave me the happiest news in recent times - that Abhinav Bindra has won Gold in one of the shooting events at the Beijing Olympics. I was very happy and overjoyed on hearing it. Infact, I am still rejoicing it and it will take some more days for the feeling to sink in. All day yesterday, I was reading articles on Abhinav and how he had failed last time at Athens and how hard he had trained for Beijing. In the evening after going back home, I saw the victory cermony on Youtube. Honestly, it made me feel very very proud. To hear Jana Gana Mana being played after the awards distribution and to see the Indian tricolour go up in the center with China and Finland following by its sides was a special feeling, an emotional one too!

Abhinav, my heartfelt salutations to you sir! You made a billion people proud by hitting bull's eye in the last round to finish on top. You truly deserve all the laurels that are being showered on you. Thanks for elevating the Indian-ness (which was a little shaken by the predator series) in me. Hail thee, the protector of Indian sporting fame in the international arena.

One Day..

2008-07-16T00:30:00.001-04:00

.. I'm going to brush with my shaving cream or shave with my toothpaste!

Its raining World Champions in India !!

2007-11-03T02:41:00.000-04:00

I have been wanting to write this post for months now. Before anything else, I have to mention Pankaj Advani, whom I missed out in my previous post. This young genius from Bangalore recently retained his World championship title at the IBSF tournament held at Singapore in September. More on this here. You rock, mate!

And if you thought the Indians’ glory at world sport was just a coincidence, read on..

Vishwanathan Anand won the 2007 World Chess Championship held at Mexico without losing or trailing in a single game. He is now the undisputed world champion. But he has to win Russian Vladimir Kramnik in early 2008 to continue his reign as the champion. I am sure he will. The Hindu’s article on this here. Salutations, sir!

Armaan Ibrahim is an eighteen year old race car driver from Chennai. He has been driving in the A1 circuits for quite sometime now. Recently, he won the Grand Race of the Formula Renualt V6 Asia Championship in Japan. Dude, you did both our city and country proud. Congratulations! By the way, are you eligible for a valid driving license?! I sincerely hope he goes on to make waves in the F1 circuits thereby making all of us even more proud in the years to come.

Now, the most interesting of them all – India are World Under-14 Rugby champions. Believe me, its true. Young tribal boys from Orissa’s Kalinga Institute representing India beat South Africa in the World Cup Rugby tournament played at England in September. It is sad to think that these talented kids did not get enough media coverage which they truly deserved. I was hooked on to this news piece for quite a few weeks and I really enjoyed the world champion tag, that too in an alien sport in India ! It will be interesting to see how these talents are groomed in the future. Way to go, boys!

I was chatting with one of my old friends the other day and we were discussing about Indian sport. During the conversation, he rightly said – “It’s raining world champions in India, man!!” It sure is.

Chak De Phatte!

2007-09-29T01:31:00.000-04:00

Just as you read the title, i know you are thinking this is going to be yet another post about Team India's T20 win. Well, you are partly right. This is about Indian sport in general and how the past few months have been eventful for not just one or two games, but 4 fast-paced outdoor games.

After the historical Test series win by the Indian cricket team in England, it was Bhaichung Bhutia's Men in Blue who hogged the limelight by winning the 5 nation Nehru cup in New Delhi. This victory meant a lot to Indian football and the aspirations of the players must be soaring sky-high to do well in the World cup qualifiers. Next, it was the tennis beauty from Hyderabad. Though over-hyped by the Indian media, Sania proved that she had the goods and displayed some fine tennis at the US Open 2007. Though she was defeated in the 3rd round of the singles event, she went on till the quarterfinals of the mixed doubles pairing with veteran Mahesh Bhupathi. She did equally well in the women's doubles event and was just two wins away from the final. Then came the Chak De Tigers wielding their hockey sticks. The team, led by Prabodh Tirkey literally set Chennai ablaze for 10 days by winning match after match. In one of the league matches, they beat Srilanka with an unbelievable scoreline which read 20-0! They continued their invincible winning streak by beating Korea in the final - an impressive 7-2 victory.

And after all that, it was time for Dhoni's Devils to come to the fore. I haven't seen an Indian cricket team play more fearless cricket than what these lads did in my lifetime (I was in the nappies when Kapil's men won the 83 World Cup and the 85 World series win). Though this is just Twenty20 and not a proper format of the game, you still have to beat the best teams in the world to be crowned as champions. I liked the way Dhoni led the team and also the way the guys responded to the captain. It was a spectacular team performance by the young guns of India.

Overall, the past two months have just been amazing for Indian sport and as an ardent sports fan of this wonderful country, i would like this to continue on and on for a long long time. Cheers!! Chak De India!!!

Mushfiqur Rahim - A Bangladeshi prospect

2007-07-07T02:35:00.000-04:00

I wrote this article some two months back. Finally got the patience to type it and post it here.

Mushfiqur Rahim, the young Bangladeshi wicketkeeper reminds me of the Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene in more ways than one when he bats. His stance, balance and the way he plays his shots are very similar to J'wardene. Some years ago, I used to hate J'wardene just because he almost always appeared to me (on screen) as someone who has a heavy head on his shoulders. His batting style, body language and his gait were a constant eyesore to me. And the fact that he played very well against India added to my dislike towards him. But gradually, I began to appreciate his batting. Playing the ball on its merit, sound technique, footwork, and a gamut of strokes all around the ground are his strong plusses. Particularly, his Dravid-like qualities - rock-solid temperament and donning of a sheet anchor role in steadying a sinking ship appealed to me the most. When he took over as captain from the ageing Atapattu, there were doubts raised from many a quarter about his leadership abilities. With the recently concluded World Cup, he proved that he rightly deserved the top man's job.

Rahim has a long way to go in his career. If he plays upto his potential, who knows, he can even go on to become one of Bangladesh's top run-getters and maybe captain the side one day. Do we have a Bangladeshi version of Andy Flower here? Maybe, yes. With many more years of cricket ahead of him, all this is possible if the young chap continues improving his cricket with every match that he plays. He is equally good behind the wicket and he showed that during the World Cup. I read somewhere that Dravid, the Indian captain, met up with Tamim Iqbal (the young Bangladeshi opener), just after India's shock exit from the World Cup and presented him with one of his bats. He also gave another bat and asked Tamim to give it to Rahim. Mushfiqur Rahim, if you are reading this by any chance, my sincere advice to you would be - Try to shape your career on the lines of the one who gifted you a bat. Revere him as a role-model and keep improving your cricket. And yes, you might even get a few wicket-keeping tips from The WALL :-) !!

Hey, Rahim has just slammed 80 runs and played a face-saving (though not match-saving) partnership with new captain Mohd. Ashraful in the second test against Sri Lanka at Colombo. See, this fella is coming good..

Judgement Reserved

2007-05-04T10:11:00.000-04:00

Of the very few worthwhile things that Bro did while in India, the most significant is the purchase of the Video CD of Cho S Ramaswamy's vintage play - Judgement Reserved. Swathi Soft Solutions released a number of classical comedy plays by eminent artistes like Cho, Mouli, S Ve Shekher, Crazy Mohan etc on VCD and DVD format sometime back. Must say a big thanks to the brain behind these projects as they bring back the old vintage comedies portrayed by some of the extra-ordinarily talented theatre artistes on screen yet again.

Judgement Reserved is a story with a rape trial at its fulcrum. It characters include a honest lawyer, his witty clerk (played by Cho), a social worker, a magazine editor, a film producer. The theme mainly deals with how the different elements of the society influence youngsters in their attitude and behaviour. Though the play must have been made sometime during the late 80s or early 90s, the plot is so engrossingly relevant to even today which makes one wonder at the fore-sightedness of the veteran writer-journalist. Another striking element of this play (and almost every other play by Cho) is the usage of grammatically correct English by some of the characters. The actor who plays Sundaralingam, the lawyer, excels in his dialogue delivery and his English is perfect. Cho, as the humorous clerk is at his best pulling others legs whenever he gets a chance which is something that he is naturally good at. The other characters, especially Nilu (as the police constable) and another Cho-regular who plays the role of Sumathi, the editor, do an equally excellent job, thus stamping their mark as experienced theatre artistes.

Without doubt, Judgement Reserved is going to be one prized possession in my little library. Make sure you don't miss out this classic.

I am planning to scribble some of the dialogues from the play in this blog. So, do watch out for that.

King, Don't go !!

2007-04-23T01:22:00.000-04:00

Cricket will never be the same without you.

Salutations to you, Brian Charles Lara, for all that you have given to this wonderful game. We will miss you!

Tagged

2007-03-09T04:13:00.000-05:00

This is the first.. er second time that i have been tagged. Being the lazy person that i am, never bothered to respond to the first one. Picking this up from Gopps just because of his dogged persistence.

Favorite Color
Black, Green

Favorite Food
Potato Curry, Saboodhana Upma

Favorite Song
Lots of them. Most recent being - Kaatrin Mozhi, Tere Bina, Kaadhal Konjam, New York Nagaram

Favorite Movies
Anbe Sivam, Kaakha Kaakha, Mani and Shankar movies, Azhagiya Theeye, Mozhi

Favorite Sport
Cricket, Badminton, and of-late TT and pool

Favorite Season
Winter

Favorite Day
Friday, Saturday, Sunday

Favorite Ice Cream Flavor
Butterscotch

Favorite time
Evenings, With family / friends

8 Currents

Current Mood
Stable.

Current Taste
Yummy. Just had a Kulfi at Aavin.

Current Clothes
T Shirt, Jeans

Current Desktop
None

Current Time
14:40

Current Thoughts
About the movie Mozhi

6 First

First Best Friend
S Prashanth

First Screen Name?
Does that mean Nickname? -- If yes, then Thatha

First Album
Photo? - When i was one. A Nude dude !!

First Pet
Pass

First Piercing
Ear-piercing. Must have been 1 or 2.

6 Lasts
Last Cigarette
Pass

Last Drink
Coffee

Last Car Ride
To Maangadu

Last Movie Seen
Mozhi

Last Phone Call
Raghavan

Last Book Read
Ovvoru Nodiyum

Have you ever broken the law?
Yes

Have you ever been arrested?
No

Have you ever Lied?
Yes

Have you ever kissed someone you didn’t know?
No

Who is your latest crush?
The girl who plays the daughter of Jyotika and Surya in Jillunu Oru Kaadhal and models for a number of ads.

5 Things

Things you are wearing
Already answered

Things you have done today
Chat, Coffee, Some work, Lunch

Things you can hear right now
My SPM and PM talking about our project budget

Things you can’t live without
Food, Water

Things you do when you are bored
Sleep, Surf

Places You have been Today
Office, Ananda Bhavan, Aavin

3 People You can tell anything to
X, Y and Z

2 Choices
Black/White
Black

Hot/Cold
Depends. Preferably cold

1 Thing you want to do before you die
Live

Anyone reading this can feel free to pick this tag up..

Mozhi ~ Poetry in motion

2007-03-04T22:22:00.000-05:00

Silence. Calmness. Harmony. Tranquility. Serenity. Beauty. Happiness. Joy. Peace. Music. Melody. Language. Expression. Emotion. Love. Life. Mozhi.

One of the best movies that i have seen. Tamil cinema is blessed! Please watch this movie in theatres.

Aaha FM Promos - Holy Shit

2007-01-27T01:03:00.000-05:00

Aaha FM (91.9 Mhz) is the latest private radio channel hitting Chennai's air waves, adding to the already clogged up FM airspace. The hoardings promoting the channel are seen everywhere in the city. In each of them you can see a man or a woman, in their 20s (an exception is a middle-aged lady clad in a saree), sweating and shrieking out with their mouth open and posing as if they are having the orgasms of their lives - with a caption that reads Pozhudhupokkin uchhakattam which translates to "Climax of all pastimes". Now this is holy shit. What does a radio channel has to do with people screaming mad in sexual climax? It, anyway, isn't a porn channel. If i had been the okaying authority for the promo campaign and if the advertising agency person had come up with such an idea, i would have spit on him, right across his face.

Hairy Manesar!!

2006-12-27T23:01:00.000-05:00

Interesting article which i found in one of Cricinfo blogs. Monty Panesar has just won the Beard of the Year award by BLF - Beard Liberation Front!
Read it here.

Now this is really, hair-raising :-) ! !

The photograph tells it all..

2006-12-12T22:52:00.001-05:00

Santhi opened India's medal tally in the Asian Games by winning the 800m silver. Simply awe-inspiring.. Read on..

From The Hindu:

A village celebrates the Doha silver

PROUD PARENTS: M. Soundarrajan and S. Manimekelai, parents of S. Santhi, silver medal winner in the 800m event in the Doha Asian Games, in their house at Kathakkurichi in Pudukottai district.

PUDUKOTTAI: S. Santhi's silver medal-winning performance in the 800 metres at the Doha Asian Games triggered celebrations in Kathakkurichi, a non-descript village about 15 km off Pudukottai.

As soon as the news of her achievement spread on Sunday, the villagers gathered at Santhi's residence to congratulate her parents.

Many in the neighbourhood found it difficult to believe what they had just witnessed on an overcast Saturday evening: a local girl who had little access to sophisticated training or diet had competed with the best in Asia and won a medal.

Emotional moment

Santhi's father, M. Soundarrajan, was visibly moved. "It is a great moment for us. My girl has done the nation proud," he said in a voice choked with emotion.

His eyes were transfixed on the photographs of his daughter published in all newspapers.

Santhi's mother, S. Manimekalai, is overjoyed, but is also a little depressed since she could not watch the proud moment on television. "We don't have the facility in our house. How nice it would have been to watch her on TV," she sighs. Twenty-five-year-old Santhi overcame abject poverty to bring in the silver.

Labourers in a brick kiln, Santhi's parents, with four other children, could not offer her even the barest minimum nutrition. Gruel used to be her staple food, says her father's brother, Chandrakumar. Yet, she spent at least an hour in the playground every day, he adds. Her late grandfather Muthiah was the one who first encouraged Santhi to take up sports.

Her father says that in school physical education teachers Pazhanivel and Xavier guided her.

He also makes a special mention of the systematic training she got at Youth Sports Club from S. Loganathan. "Right from an early age she had the passion to perform. This medal is a reward for her sustained hard work," says the club president, M. Subramanian.

Santhi had won many a prize in varied sports, including hockey and javelin.

Cash prize

Chennai Special Correspondent adds:

Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on Sunday announced a cash prize of Rs.15 lakh for Santhi.

Though born in a poor family in Kattakurichi village in Pudukottai district, Santhi had made India and Tami Nadu proud by winning the silver at the Asian sports meet, an official release said

Also see:

http://www.hindu.com/2006/12/10/stories/2006121008111900.htm

Sarfaroshi ki tamanna...

2006-10-12T02:26:00.000-04:00

From The Hindu

Young Army officer killed in Kashmir

TAMBARAM: An Army officer from Pammal near Tambaram, who passed out of the Officers Training Academy here in March, was killed in an encounter with militants near the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday.

Lieutenant N. Parthiban, son of a retired Army officer, belonged to 5 JAK LI (Light Infantry). His body was brought to Chennai on Sunday.

He had spoken to his parents over phone only on Friday, stating that this team had killed a few militants and he himself shot dead three of them in the Line of Control area.

His father, Major (retired) V. Natarajan, had served in Kargil during the conflict and retired last year. Parthiban completed his higher secondary education from Kendriya Vidyalaya in IIT, Chennai, and graduated in Physics from Bishop Heber College, Tiruchi. Last year, he cleared the Combined Defence Services Examination and the interview at Bangalore.

Lt. Parthiban had enrolled for M.Sc. in Physics when the call from OTA came. "His desire to serve the nation by being a part of the Armed Forces only intensified after he joined the NCC in college," said Major Natarajan, who belonged to the Corps of Signals Regiment.

Several college mates of the martyred officer thronged his house in LIC Colony, Pammal. Among them was Suganth Selvaraj, whose elder brother Lt. Sahaya Selvaraj was killed during an operation to flush out militants in Kashmir in 2003 and was awarded the Sena Medal for gallantry. Lt. Parthiban's friends described him as patriotic, committed and willing to teach and help others. "He was an expert in map reading and firing and received gold medals for the same during the Tal Sainik camp in Madurai in October 2003," said F.J. Samuel, his senior in NCC.

I salute you, sir, with my heads bowed, for your courage, gallantry and patriotism. May God give strength to your friends and family members to overcome this moment of grief. Jai Hind!!

...and we talk about clemency for Mohd Afzal...

Also see,
http://www.hindu.com/2006/10/10/stories/2006101016020400.htm
http://www.hindu.com/2006/10/11/stories/2006101118630500.htm
http://www.thehindu.com/2006/10/11/stories/2006101122380300.htm

Wayanad = Heaven !!

2006-10-05T03:07:00.000-04:00

The most beautiful place on earth i have ever been to..
Chembra Peak in Wayanad district of Kerala. At 2100 m above sea level, trekking here is an amazing experience. Make sure you don't miss out this masterpiece of Nature!

New York Nagaram by ARR

2006-08-27T11:01:00.001-04:00

I just cannot stop hearing this song from Sillunu... Amazingly sung by the master himself, this is my song of the year!! Guys, the king is back to where he rightfully belongs!!

Here goes the lyrics and the translation. Translation courtesy - Shashi

New York nagaram urangum neram, thanimai adarndadhu..
In the moment when NewYork city went to sleep, loneliness caught me..
Paniyum padarndadhu..
And snow spread all over..
Kappal erangiye kaatrum karaiyil nadandadhu..
(It was so lonely that) Even the breeze got down from the ship and started walking on shores!

Naangu kannadi chuvargalukulle naanum mezhuguvathiyum..
Inside the four glass walls, me and a candlelight
Thanimai thanimaiyo.. Kodumai kodumaiyo..
How lonely... how trecherous...

Stanza 1

Paechelaam thalaatu pola ennai uranga veikka nee illai
Oh beloved, you are not here to put me to sleep with the lullaby talk of yours
Nilavin oliyin mutham thandhu kaalai coffee kudukka nee illai
You are not here to kiss me in moonlight and give me coffee in the morning
Vizhiyil vizhum dhoosi thannai naaval edukka nee ingu illai
You are not here to blow my eyes when dirt falls into my eyes
Manadhil ezhum kuzhapam thannai theerka nee inge illai..
You are not here to clear the confusions of my heart

Naan inge neeyum ange, indha thanimaiyil nimishangal varusham aanadheno?
I'm here & you are there, In this loneliness, minutes have become years!
Vaan inge neelam ange, indha oovamaiku eruvarum vilakam aanadheno?
The sky is here & the color blue is there, Why did we become an example to that simile?!

Stanza 2

Naatkurippil nooru thadavai undhan peyarai ezhudhum en pena
My pen wrote your name 100 times in my daily planner
Ezhudhiyadhum erumbu moikka peyarum aanadhena thenaa?
Just as I wrote, ants came from all over, did your name turn into honey?

Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh..

Jil endru bhoomi irundhum, indha tharunathil kulir kaalam kodai aanadheno?
Even in this chill weather why is this winter season like hot summer to me?

Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh..

Vaa anbe neeyum vandhal senthanal kuda panikatti pole marumae..
Oh beloved, come to me.. if you are here even a burning charcoal will become a snowball !

Yeh yeh yeh yeh yeh yeh yeh..

Fun at Airport

2006-08-12T10:13:00.000-04:00

2 days back, i had been to the airport to receive a relative who flew down from Mumbai. The flight was delayed by almost an hour. Trying to solve the missing pieces on that day's The Hindu Crossword, i observed people hovering around the airport. There were people of different kinds and faiths waiting to receive their loved ones. And needless to mention, lotsa cabbies holding placards with names of executives and the companies they work for. There was this particular cab driver who was holding two placards on which were written the names - Thiruvethy and Rajesh Siddar. Looking at the names, i conjured up images of dhoti clad and long bearded spiritual old men. But to my surprise, a young man dressed up in slacks and jeans signalled to the driver and told him that his friend was on his way. The very next moment, he took out his pen, striked the two names on the placard, and wrote in bold letters - TRIVEDI and RAJIV CHIBBER !!

Wild Hunt in the Forest

2006-08-04T08:57:00.000-04:00

Trip to Mukurthi/Ooty/Top Slip/Parambikulam
14-17 July 2006

18 of us packed our bags and boarded Cheran Express on a Friday night to reach Coimbatore early next morning. At around 7 o clock, we got into the waiting mini bus and started our ride to Mukurthi Hills, which is 36 km from Ooty. After almost 4 hours we reached a place beyond which travel by any sort of vehicle is impossible. It was already drizzling and the weather was perfect for an adventure-craving bunch of software geeks. After rounds of hot tea, we started our trek to Mukurthi forest bungalow, the only brick structure in the entire mountain range. En route is Porthimund dam, one of the most beautiful dams that I have even seen, built across the Pykara river. The water in the dam was almost full and there was mist everywhere that one could hardly see beyond 10 feet. The wind which swept the water and blew on our faces was too cool and very refreshing. We trekked for almost 2 hours in the intermittent rain breaking here and there for photo sessions near small streams, shorter versions of waterfalls and finally reached the Mukurthi Fishing Hut (the forest bungalow) - a hut in the midst of mountains, streams and forests. The hut, though not the height of luxury, is comfortable enough for exploring the surrounding forest area. As it was raining and as most of the womenfolk were already tired because of trekking, we had to call off the original plan of trekking further north to Mukurthi Peak and Mukurthi National Park , which is home to a lot of wild animals. After some refreshments at the hut, we went to the Mukurthi lake and also to some streams in the vicinity of the hut. The fishing hut has an unique feature about it. The only form of electricity here are 2 solar-powered lamps. Our tour operator had arranged for a cook to travel with us to the hut and we had a hot sumptuous candle-lit dinner in almost freezing conditions. With the fireplace burning bright, we spent the night in the fishing hut clinging to our quilts.

In front of Mukurthi Hut

Next morning, we started our trek down south after having breakfast at the hut. Upon reaching motorable area, we got into our bus and proceeded to Mudumalai sanctuary stopping for lunch at Ooty. Mudumalai wildlife sanctuary is about 80 km from Coimbatore and is home to tigers, leopards, spotted deers, bisons, boars and a wide range of birds. We got into a forest department owned Swaraj Mazda van and started our safari through the sanctuary. As they say, animal sighting is by pure luck. We managed to sight only some flocks of spotted deers, bisons and a few peacocks, kingfishers and eagles, but no tigers, leopards or elephants! As we didn't have any other plans for the day, we headed back to Ooty for some shopping. Most of us bought home-made chocolates, eucalyptus oil and other stuff which is native to the Queen of Blue Mountains. After having dinner in Mettupalayam, we stayed in a hotel in a place called Ganapathy, which is nearer to Pollachi.

En route to Mukurthi Lake

The next day we started early in the morning in order to reach Top Slip (located in the Aanamalai forest range in Pollachi district) on time. Indira Gandhi National Park, which is affectionately called Top Slip has an excellent variety of animals and birds. As the driver of the forest safari van had gone missing somewhere, we decided to move on to Parambikulam widlife sanctuary in Kerala which is adjacent to Top Slip. Parambikulam was far better than Mudumalai. The sound of crickets chirping, owls hooting, squirrels shrieking and birds cooing filled the air and created a typical dense forest atmosphere. The safari went on for almost 3 hours and we spotted a few deers, bisons, wild boars, langurs, peacocks, giant squirrels etc. The ride also encompassed visits to the famous Kannimara teak tree, sported to the biggest living teak tree in the world and also to the Parambikulam Dam, which was constructed by the Tamil Nadu government on Kerala's soil as part of the Parambikulam Aliyar project. The driver of the safari van even bantered - "The dam belongs to Tamil Nadu whereas the fishes and crocodiles inside the dam belong to Kerala". After the roller-coaster safari ride, we lunched in a thatched hut restaurant in Parambikulam and started our ride to Monkey falls via Aliyar Dam. We reached the falls at around 5.30 in the evening and splashed in the waters for almost an hour. The aptly named place was infested with monkeys all around searching in a frenzy for eatables of any form from the visting tourists. By then, it was time for us to get going and we boarded our bus to reach Coimbatore railway station by 9 o clock. After three days of green, greener and greenest encounters with Mother Nature, we bid adieu to our tour operator in Coimbatore and headed back to Chennai.

Parambikulam Dam

In case you are planning a visit to these places, try to avoid the monsoon period as the weather might be very worse in these areas. Instead of Mudumalai, try adding Vaalparai, Athirampally - Vazhachal Falls to your itinerary. Also, write to the Wildlife Warden in Parambikulam / Top Slip sanctuary in advance seeking permission to stay in the woodhouses located in the midst of the forests and try to take the night safari - 7.30 to 9.30 pm in order to experience encounters with wilder animals.

Off to Top Slip!!

2006-07-14T07:35:00.000-04:00

I am going on a 3 day trip to Mukurthi Hills, Top Slip, Mudumalai forests, Bandipur sanctuary et cetera, et cetera with my project mates tonight!!

Looking forward to have great fun!!

Shalom!

RIP - England - July 01, 2006

2006-07-02T01:41:00.000-04:00

3 days ago in Wimbledon Centre Court, the champion Roger eve-teased Tim Henman and won the second round match in straight sets 6-4, 6-0, 6-2.

Yesterday, Sri Lanka with Jayasuriya leading the attack raped the English cricket team in over 2.5 hrs of what you call ferocious one-day cricket, therebying white-washing the series 5-0.

And finally, the Portuguese murdered Beckham & Co by shooting them out in penalties 3-1 after 120 minutes of goalless football.

This season, the world of sport has silenced and slayed England to rest in peace. Hey wait, looks like someone is springing up from the grave.. Andy Murray has beaten Andy Roddick in straight sets to advance to the pre-quarterfinals!!

Sujatha's Pathinaalu Naatkal

2006-06-04T23:03:00.000-04:00

At last, i finished reading my second Tamil novel "Pathinaalu Naatkal" by Sujatha - the first one being "Madugapathy" by Kalki. Both are very short novels and coincidentally, both have a flavour of patriotism..

I must admit, I am a very slow reader when it comes to Tamil literature - it took me close to a month to complete the 112 page novel :-( !!

Pathinaalu Naatkal is a brilliant story set in the background of 1971 Indo-Pakistan war (which lasted for 14 days) that led to the liberation of Bangladesh. Kumar, the protaganist is a Squadron Leader with the Indian Air Force. He leads a team of air-force pilots which takes on a mission to bombard the Pakistani bases on ground and also to counter-attack the Pak forces on air. While in action, Kumar gets injured and parachutes into a Paki strong area, where he is helped by two of the local Mukthi Bahini young men. Unfortunately, he gets caught by the Pakistan Army and is held captive in a cell where he is subjected to all kinds of physical torture under the command of a savage-like Pak Army captain Sultan Mohammad. How the Indian troops come and rescue Kumar, how the opponents surrender and how Sultan Mohammad finally meets his death forms the rest of the story. Sujatha takes the novel at a brisk pace and he really excels while describing the conflicting emotions which Kumar undergoes whilst preparing to get into his fighter aircraft for the high-risk mission.

Some excerpts:

Bangladeshin vimaana nilayangal ovondrum vaanathil irundhu epadi thondrum enbadhai Reconnaissance edutha nootru kanakaana padangalai aaraaindhu irukiraan.
Manju-vai kuda photo-vai paarthu thaan sammadham therivithaan. "Un thodaiyil ithanai periya macham irukum endru kalyanathuku munnalaye solli iruka vendama?"
Jessore-in janathogai theriyum avanuku.
Manju pirandha Sriranga-thin janathogai? Pathayirama?
Jessore Cantonment engirukiradhu? Garrison engirukiradhu? Kudi thanneer thekkangal engirukinrana? Ellaam theriyum.
Manju-vin udambin ovoru angamum theriyum.
Adhe pola Dhaka, Kommila, Maimansingh, Kulna.
Manju..

Speechless was i, in admiration, after reading this piece.. Sujatha has piqued my so-long blunt and bland appetite for Tamil literature. Looking forward to read more Tamil novels and short stories. Hmm, how i wish i could read Tamil as fast as English :-( !!

Finally, thanks to Athiyaman for lending this excellent novel !

PS: At the end of the novel, Sujatha goes on to say that the story is based on the true experiences of a fighter pilot. This is a very old novel first published somewhere in the early 80s. The reprinted version is being sold at Rs 28/- these days.

Blissful Sunday morning..

2006-05-21T14:08:00.000-04:00

Self and Raghavan paid a visit to Govt. Children’s Home For Boys at Royapuram today morning. Thanks to Indiresh, who co-ordinated the visit along with some other TCS guys. The visit was part of the weekly activity which the social wing of TCS has taken up some time back.

Govt. Children’s Home For Boys at Royapuram is a Child Welfare Committee which is being run by the Dept of Social Defence, Govt of Tamil Nadu. There are two sections in this home. The first section is called the Reception Centre. This comprises of boys who have been rescued from child labour and also some who have run away from their homes due to several reasons. These kids are basically locked up in 2 big cells with tight security. They literally do nothing through the entire day. They are fed 3 times and the only entertainment for them is a TV. The other section is the Home – which is a simple residential school. The inmates of the home are mostly orphans and kids whose parents cannot afford their education.

The main project that the TCS guys have undertaken in this place is the Relocation project for the children in the Reception Centre. Since the boys are from different parts of the country, the volunteers converse with these kids in their local language and try to get details about the kid’s family, his native place, the reason for his decision to run away from home, his previous employer’s details etc. A counselling kind of session takes place through which all the details about the kid is gathered. After the data gathering, these volunteers try to validate the authenticity of whatever the kid has said. There have been instances where kids go on telling lies in the hope of getting released from the cell sooner. Once the authenticity is established, arrangements are made through the Superintendent of the Home to transfer the kid to his parents if possible or to the Govt Boys Home nearby the kid’s native place so that they can further trace the parents of the child. Another project which they are looking forward to is the Origami classes project. In order that these kids spend their time doing something useful through the day, there are plans to teach some basic paper folding to them. Interested volunteers will be trained initially so that they can take classes for the kids.

Apart from this, the other projects that are in progress at the Home (residential school) include basic English and Computer classes for the kids and also a library project – volunteers are required to do some story-reading which will evoke an interest in the kid to read books.

We did counselling for 2 kids today. Believe me, it was really a great experience to be part of the Relocation project – to have participated in a process which aims at bridging a lost child with his parents in some other part of the country gave us a lot of satisfaction.. It was truly, a blissful Sunday morning..

In case any of you want to volunteer for this activity which takes place every Sunday morning, you can get in touch with the following phone numbers:

Arun Ramamurthy – 9840702431
Indiresh - 9884487755

My first vote !!

2006-05-08T10:27:00.000-04:00

I voted for the first time in my life! Yes! Though my name was there in the voters list during Lok Sabha elections 2004, i did not cast my vote for some reasons. But this time, i exercised my democratic right!

Whom did i vote for?

No one. I cast a "No Vote"! There is this provision in accordance with Election Regulation Act 1961 - Section 49 O - using which we can choose not to vote to any of the candidates.

Why did i choose not to vote?

1) Lok Paritran (of which i'm a member) did not contest in the constituency in which i voted.
2) Frustration because of the cheap politics the major parties play.
3) I had the least idea about the credentials of the candidates.
4) And lastly, i was curious to know whether the officials would allow me to exercise this option.

Infact, I was well prepared for a fight with them as some of my friends had said to me today morning that they were not allowed to cast 49-O. They were told that there is no such option! But thankfully in my case, the preceding officer of the booth was a nice person. Upon hearing my concern, he referred a book which had all the election-related laws and ordinances listed down and guided me peacefully to cast a No Vote! I signed in the register, entered "I don't wish to vote to anyone" in the Remarks column, had my left index finger painted with the blank ink and came out of the room without even going near the Electronic Voting Machine!!!

Semma hot-u machi!!!

2006-04-28T04:47:00.000-04:00

One of my colleagues rightly said - "Next week, we'll migrate from State=Tamil Nadu to State=Liquid" :) !!

But Yahoo Weather says we can expect scattered thunderstorms on Monday and Tuesday.. Let's see!!!

Photo courtesy: www.weather.com

Vaiko, nee oru Psycho!! - TR

2006-04-24T14:41:00.000-04:00

Sun News has been one of the prime-movers of DMK's election campaign this time. It has been live telecasting election speeches by party supremos / film actors etc. Today it was our T Rajendar's turn to take centre-stage. In case you don't know, T Rajendar runs a political party called Latchiya Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (LDMK) and has been campaigning heavily for DMK for the upcoming assembly elections. I was able to see only the last 20 minutes of the programme. If someone has recorded the entire speech and have uploaded it somewhere, please let me know. Believe me, it was total fun watching Karadi at his very best.. Manushan summa kavidhaiya alli veesinaaru.. Ultimate comedy..
Here are some excerpts of his speech that i can remember..

Vaiko
Nee Oru Psycho
Nee Engayavadhu Poyiko
Mothathila nee oru poi(lie)ko

Jayalalitha romba adamantu
Mudinja nee (Vaiko) vitu paaru statementu
Mudiyadhu, en endral adhu avanga judgementu (not to give Vaiko a seat)
Adhu dhan neenga potta agreementu

Vechukaadha nee en kita vambu
En payan peru Simbu
Villu ku theva ambu
Vaanam Vasapadum, adha thoda embu
Kalaignar a nee ennikum nambu..

Naan vaazhndhadhu illa thanmanatha vithu
En endral suyamariyadha enoda sothu
Silambarasan na pethedutha muthu
Avan nadicha padam peru 'Kuthu'
Udaya Suriyan chinnatha paathu paathu nee vote a kuthu!!!

Well, i wish i could quote more. But i don't exactly remember the exact words which end with a rhyming note.. People who watched the programme, please help me recollect some of his awe-inspiring pudhu kavidhaigal.

Life is to live!!!

2006-03-29T06:17:00.000-05:00

Got Anbe Sivam DVD through a Pondicherry friend. The following lines from the song "Naatukoru Seidhi Solla.." really inspired me.. This song has been written by street play artiste Mr Pralayan and Kamal puts his inimitable voice to an enthralling effect!!
So guys, Don't give up in life! Life is to live!!!

It's so claustrophobic out here!

2006-02-15T23:52:00.000-05:00

Claustrophobia - I heard this word for the first time when i was preparing for GRE in my 2nd/3rd yr of college. It means - fear of confined spaces, fear of being closed in et al. This word suddenly came to my mind while i was coming to office in my company bus today morning and instantly i heard myself saying - "Hey, it's so claustrophobic out here!" - not because the bus was over-crowded, but because of the fact that all the windows were closed and it felt like we were totally unconnected to Nature. We were closed in on by glass windows! I often wonder why my fellow commuters sigh and frown and make a big fuss if Mother Sunshine or Rain God somehow happen to sneak in through the bus windows! Don't know about others, but i always love the blast of wind on my face while travelling in a window seater. (Gives me extra pleasure if it is a night travel :-)!) Looking at this claustrophobic thing in a broader perspective, i think the statement applies to almost all of us, who work for more than 10-12 hours(or live rather) in an air-conditioned cubicle in a building made up of glass and steel. These days, it often happens that we come to know that it's raining outside through some news source on the internet. Then we say - "Oh, looks like it's raining outside. Come let's go to the pantry, grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the rain (through the glass-panelled windowpane)!"

In terms of space also, IT companies are becoming so claustrophobic these days. A cabin which was desgined to seat 4 people is now the workplace for 6 and in some cases 7! And coincidentally, our project workarea is getting over-populated by the day. Thanks to the extra work and thereby the extra currency the client is giving us. One of my colleagues said on the other day - "Like our grandfathers and fathers filled up Indian Railways, TVSes, LICs, we are now filling out the CTSes, TCSes and Infosys' of today's world!" Truly so.

Claustrophobia also seem to have caught up with most of the children these days. The kids of today's generation are so obsessed with technology driven computer games that they seldom go out to play in the sun. Games like 'Naadu Kadathal', 'Pandi', '7 stones', 'Kings', 'Mudhugu puncture', 'French cricket', 'Goli', 'Bambaram', 'Gilli', 'Alias Boys' are fast disappearing (atleast in the cities and towns) and are getting replaced by MaxPayne, Age of Empires, Prince of Persia etc. You never know, cricket, tennis and the other usual outdoor games might also go obsolete sooner. But there is media attention, atleast for some of the games (thanks to Sania Mirza.. Just kidding!) which i think will make these games survive for even more generations.

Roobaroo..!!

2006-02-12T12:31:00.000-05:00

After weeks and weeks of non-stop slogging, we finally succeeded in raising a CR (Change Request) for our project. And that meant that we could take the weekend off! Yaay..!! Been craving for such a thing for so long. I made a point to do 3 things over the weekend. 1) Eat, sleep, eat more, sleep more. 2) Watch the 2nd ODI b/w Ind v Pak and finally 3) See the movie Rang De Basanti. And know what, i did all the three!

Saturday started almost 3 hrs later than usual. Got up lazily, ate well and saw India crush Pakistan at Rawalpindi. In the evening, went to Melody theatre to watch Aamir Khan's Rang De Basanti. If u ask me to describe the movie in a single word, i'd say - Awesome! Aamir Khan has proved again that he is not just a great actor, but an overall youth icon. The other co-stars in the movie do equally well and as the banners say, this movie does aim at awakening the young generation. I saw the movie with 2 of my friends, one who had already seen the movie. He had been singing paeans about the movie which infact increased my eagerness to watch it sooner. To me, the first half of the movie was quite slow and it sorta disquitened my enthu, which oftens happens when u go to a movie with high expectations and at the end of it find that all the hype was just too much. But only after watching the full movie did i realise that i've just seen one of the best Hindi movies of the decade.

Sue Mckinley is an English film-maker who comes to India to do a movie on Indian freedom fighters. Through one of her friends Sonia (played by Soha Ali Khan), she finally manages to find the cast for her movie - DJ (Aamir Khan) and his friends. How things turn out after that is the plot of the movie. The director neatly picturises the who-cares attitude of the Indian younger generation in the first half and then strikes a punch with a disaster which turns their lives upside down in the second. Music deserves a special mention. ARR does a great job again with the background score and the songs, especially the "Masti ki Paatshaala" and "Roobaroo" numbers. The choice of characters are really good and their performances refreshing. Photography and the locales add flavour to the visual pleasure. The correlation of the British rule's brutal past with the corruption-ridden present has been deftly handled and deserves all-round applause. Two things which looked quite cinematic are 1) The way they get away with the Defence Minister's murder and 2) Why did it take so long for the police to surround the All India Radio office? They took charge of the building at midnight right? So, what were the police doing till early morning? These things apart, I see this movie as a mix of Ayutha Ezhuthu (Yuva), Swades, Anniyan, Bhagat Singh, Indian and Dil Chahta Hai. Though movies of such theme have been made in Tamil from long back, this is somewhat new to Bollywood which, of late has been doing movies only under three categories - Comedy, Sex and Violence.

The one thing that could have been avoided (keeping the whole Indian population in mind) is the frequent usage of Punjabi accent, which made it difficult (atleast to me) to understand the one-liner and two-liner comedy scenes. Om Puri's talent has been wasted in the role of a frenzied muslim father. And if i meet Aamir Khan or the director, i'd like to ask him why he chose not to kill the party leader, one Shri Mishra. He deserved to be shot in the head.

Very pertinent to this movie is the emergence of the political party "Paritrana", started by a group of IIT passouts. I'm planning to do a separate post on that. On the whole, this movie is a treat to watch. So if u are a movie buff, make sure u don't miss this. I just did a review of a movie, is it? Nah, i don't think so. Reading this a second time, i feel that i've not done enough justice to the movie.. To get a real feel of it, go watch the movie.. in a theatre!

Workaholic? Me?

2006-01-28T13:25:00.002-05:00

One of my friends said to me - "You have become a workaholic these days!" It made me think - Was he right? Hmm.. Let me try to define a workaholic. In my dictionary, one who is so obsessed with work that he considers every other thing - family, friends etc. - secondary, qualifies to be called a workaholic. There is always this driving compulsion in him to keep going.. on and on.. I have no doubt that i'm not one of them. But the fact that i've been at home only for 3 days for the past 2 full months is a point to ponder. I began by questioning myself - "Why am I slogging till 1 or 2 in the office?" and came up with the following:

1) I'm not competent enough to finish things within timelines
2) Management has screwed up big time with the schedule planning
3) I'm not passionate about what i'm doing

Points 1 and 3 r quite true as i'm not one of the "TECHIES" of my project. Thanks to my inconsistent allocation and my irresistible unlikeliness for the kind of work i'm doing. Point 2 - though true, nothing can be done about it.

Another friend of mine asked me the other day - "If you don't give a damn about ur appraisals and ratings, why the hell r u staying back in office after 6? After all, they will give a C in ur next appraisal. So what?" Valid question.. True, that i dont care a weebit about how i'm being rated and appraised, but still there is this urge to complete the task that has been assigned to me. So, even if it makes me toil till 1 or 2 in the night, i go ahead and try to complete it. But at the end of it all, when i crawl into my bed - i think "Was it really worth it?".. and all i could do is frown :-( !

The unfathomable thing called "Marriage"!

2005-12-14T22:18:00.000-05:00

What is it about marriage that makes people behave like kids? Yesterday, one of my project mates announced her engagement to a guy who is in US for an onsite assignment and never for a moment she stopped giggling and laughing and blushing always with the "I'm going to get married" glee on her face.. I was also told that the engagement took place on the day when the groom party had come to see her for the first time. It seems they liked her very much and decided to tie them both together.. Now, this was a total bouncer to me.. She hardly knew him the day before.. Now, she is going gaga over the pic of her would-be taken in front of the famous tower at Toronto..

My friend once asked me - "What is it about marriage that makes men go mellow?" Like u have this bold, outspoken, unflinching guy who suddenly blushes when u talk about his marriage next month and speaks below audible levels when that special person calls him on his mobile..

Dunno y, but I always fail to understand the concept behind marriage (esp Arranged Marriage)..

Mumbai Underwater

2005-10-12T23:25:00.000-04:00

I wrote this after the Mumbai floods..

A day after torrential rains lashed the city of Mumbai, the residential areas housing the Air India colony & Indian Airlines quarters were more than just flooded. Rain had not stopped pouring but it was not as heavier as the day before. Water levels had reached more than 12 ft in Air India colony. Ravi’s ground floor house was almost drowned.

July 27, 2005
0900 hrs

It has been more than 24 hrs since Ravi left home yesterday morning for work. Ravi’s old parents had taken their cash locker & jewellery boxes and stayed last night at Mr.Verma’s third floor 3 bedroom apartment. Since telephone lines were down, they had no idea about Ravi. Though initially they were sure he would return home soon, they were starting to get anxious as all the others who went to work yesterday started returning home early this morning. But for Ravi, all the residents of the colony were back at home by 10 o’clock. Ravi’s father tried his best to console his wife by saying that Ravi would have stayed in his office / in his friend’s place and that he might be on his way home. Inwardly, he was also anxious and worried about his son. The clock struck twelve and their faint hopes were turning into despair. As news about increasing casualties started to spread, they were literally crying. Ravi was the only son of the family. His parents were planning to get him married in a couple of months. They waited in vain for another two long hours. Ravi’s father, who was standing in the 3rd floor balcony right from the morning cried out loud – “Parvati, Ravi aa gaya! Jaldi aao.. Hey ram!! Ravi has come back. Come here. Our beta is alive. Thank God!” His wife came running into the balcony and she was not able to control herself upon seeing her son. She thanked the Almighty a thousand times for bringing back her son alive. Ravi was standing on the tall compund wall just outside the colony’s main gate. As he was out of hearing distance, he waved out to his parents and gestured that it might be hours or even tomorrow before he actually got to the upper floors as the water level was still well above his stature. Ravi went out of sight after a few minutes. His parents thought he must be trying some means to reach the block and get to the upper floor.

July 28, 2005
1700 hrs

Rain had stopped for quite sometime. Ravi had not reached home yet. His parents were not that worried as they had seen their son with their very own eyes just yesterday afternoon. They were of the idea that he might have gone back to other places of safety as it was highly risky to wade through the 600m stretch between the main gate and their block with water levels almost twice as big as Ravi (who didn’t know swimming). Half an hour later, the water level seemed to go down a bit. Someone said that the corporation people have made an outlet at the end of the road and that it will take a very long time for the water to come down and drain fully. Ravi’s father came down to the first floor to see if the water had gone well below his ground floor apartment. To his disappointment, he found that the water was still high (around 9 – 10 ft) and that his house was still three-fourths inside the water. As he surveyed the situation from the first floor, he could see that the water was full of garbage and other waste materials which had got washed away with it. Human and animal faeces made the whole place stink like a public toilet which was uncleaned for decades. There were also some animal carcasses which were floating. Covering his nose with his dhoti, Ravi’s father was about to climb the stairs when a bright red object in the water on the other side of the road grabbed his attention. Acting on his impulse, he went downstairs. Using his stick, he somehow located the 5 ft high platform which was under the water and started to walk on it. Stinking water reaching up to his neck, he somehow managed to reach the other side of the road. By then, his heart was beating twice as normal and it stopped for a minute when he saw what the red object was. Ravi’s body was floating amidst the rubble and the faeces. The bright red shirt had been the elderly couple’s gift to Ravi’s last birthday.

Inspired by

“A man, who was missing for almost 30 hours, was spotted by his family members entering the housing colony at Dombivli in Thane district. As the water level was still high, they were unable to go down and receive him. They waited at the front door for him. But he did not appear. His body was found two days later in a gutter outside the colony’s gates.” – Excerpt from the cover story ‘Rain Havoc’ on Frontline dated 26-Aug-2005.

Advani - Ganguly

2005-09-21T23:23:00.000-04:00

Of late, these two people seem to have a common connection which is of course, triggering leadership controversies. In their hey-days, Advani used to be the Iron Man in Indian politics, the prime-mover of the Hindutva ideology whereas Ganguly, the Bengal Tiger was the most successful Indian captain in both forms of the game, home and abroad.

For Lal Krishna Advani, it all started with his "Jinnah is secular" statement when he was in Pakistan to take forward the peace process initiated by Shri AB Vajpayee. (Or was it a nostalgic trip to his birthplace?) Everyone thought that he would come back to India and say he was mis-quoted by the media. But on the contrary, he stood by what he said and asked the nation to debate on the topic. What followed was an intense rivalry among the different facets of the Sangh Parivar. The RSS, with veteran KS Sudarshan at its helm strongly criticised Advani's remarks and demanded that he step down from the presidentship of the BJP. Even before, Sudarshan had commented that leaders like Vajpayee and Advani have to retire and give chance to younger people to lead the party. Party supremos MM Joshi and Yashwant Sinha objected to the 'secular' label attached to Jinnah. Then arose the question of 'one-man, one-post' and some of the party members rebelled that Advani should either step down from the party
presidentship or from the opposition leadership. Yashwant Sinha's spokesperson post was sacked. When all the party workers met for the first time after the Jinnah issue, they came out with a statement. Advani quietly agreed to 2 critical sentences which was written in it - "Jinnah was the man responsible for the partition of India. Jinnah was not secular in his views". Advani's close aide and the man who drafted his speech in Pakistan, Sudheendra Kulkarni resigned from all party posts. NDA convener George Fernandes said he was not happy with the proceedings in the BJP. Madan Lal Khurana was expelled from the party because of his strong reaction over Advani's statements. Later, he 'regretted' his remarks and was gleefully accepted again as a party loyalist. And recently, at the closing hours of The All-India National Party Meet at Chennai, Advani concluded by saying that he will resign his President's post in December. He also added that RSS should not indulge in political affairs of the BJP and that it should be concentrating on man-making and character-building. Political issues ought to be left to the party. He also hinted that BJP cannot take any decision on its own without the approval of the RSS.

For Sourav Chandi Ganguly, things never looked lush and green ever since his poor form started sometime in 2003-04. Though India trumpled Pakistan in Pakistan, the captain's performances were less than just ordinary. Does he deserve a place in the team? - became the big question and the majority of the cricket-sensible populace agreed to "Select the team first and then select a captain. But what is happening is the other way round." funda. But all these criticisms didn't deter our Dada. He went on continuing his poor form averaging around 12 to 15 in the entire year or so.. Being the cricket crazy nation we are, people started making fun of Ganguly in every possible way. One popular mockery was that of 2 minute Maggi noodles. Another joke which has been attached to every under-performing Indian batsman since Pankay Roy went like this..

Ganguly's phone rings.
Ganguly's wife: Is Saurav there?
Bajji: He has gone in to bat
Ganguly's wife: Ok, i'll hold on..

So, such was the reaction among the people and in fact, when Ganguly was banned for 6 ODI matches for slow over rate, almost everyone accepted it as a blessing in disguise. And India's poor show against the Aussies and the Pakistanis at home rubbed more salt to the already wounded Tiger. After many appeals and re-appeals, Ganguly's ban was reduced to 4 matches. (The Justice Sachs verdict was actually live-telecasted in most of the TV channels.) So, Ganguly got a chance to play in the side in the tri-series at SL. But he was not to be made captain
because he was originally included as a provisional player in the side. Dravid led the team to another tri-series final loss. Ganguly's performance was quite Ok this time. After the SL tour, the team for Zimbabwe was to be announced. After a lot of speculation and contemplation, the board chose Ganguly as the captain. He did nothing better in the one-dayers and yet again, we lost the elusive tri-series final, thanks to an amazing display of cricket by the Kiwis. Next came the first test against Zimbabwe. Finally our Dada came out of his slump and scored a century out of 270 balls against the Zimbabwean bowling attack which comprised of Dabengwa, Ewing etc.. And a point to note here is - once he reached the three-figure mark, he came down the track and threw his wicket.. (This is why i like calling him the Selfish Skipper!). By now, there was a slight rumor around that terms were not fine between the coach Greg Chappell and Ganguly. At the end of the day's play (the day when Captain India scored the century), Harsha Bhogle was interviewing him and for a question on the captaincy issue which went something like - "R there people around u who r not happy with u being the captain". Saurav replied - "Well, u can say so". Then came the real bouncer - "Did someone suggest u to step down from
captaincy" asked Harsha for which Ganguly replied something like - "Yes, but i cannot say who. Everyone knows about it." This statement sparked off a whole new controversy and though Sourav didn't name the coach, it was evident that he meant him. Ganguly could have easily avoided saying such things to the media. This only shows the Indian cricket management in a poorer light. Later, Chappell came out with a comment saying that he suggested some things to the captain only with the intention of motivating him etc..

Hmm.. Well.. Whatever be it, i feel both BJP and the Indian cricket team have already had enough and that it's high time they concentrated on doing what they are expected
to do..

First Son Syndrome

2005-09-12T23:16:00.000-04:00

Do you suffer from “First son syndrome”? Don’t panic! It’s not a life-killing disease like Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome. First Son Syndrome or FSS is a pattern which has been observed as being experienced by an extra-ordinary number of first sons of Indian families. If you are the first son of ur family and have one younger brother, then u r most likely to be suffering from FSS.

What are the symptoms of FSS? The beauty of FSS is – It doesn’t say out loud that it’s coming. Research has suggested that once the second son of the family reaches the age of 7-8, the first son begins to experience FSS. FSS is found to be more prominent in first sons who are elder than their brother by 3-4 yrs. More often than not, FSS has the power to influence the second son too. Let us take an average middle-class Indian family with 2 sons, Ramu and Somu as an example.

Ramu, the first son is the apple of all eyes. Right from his childhood, he manages to perform far better than Somu, be it in studies or inter-school literary competitions. Somu, by nature is a great sportsman. He was the captain of the school cricket and kabbadi team. Ramu cannot play games for nuts. Somu spends all his time in the playground whereas Ramu sits all day before his books. When it comes to exams, Somu’s books mutate into pillows. But he somehow clears the exam and gets a rank of around 15-20. And pretty guessably, Ramu is more obedient than Somu, which earns him the ‘most-noble-boy’ image. Somu was always the ‘spoiled brat’ of the two.

When it comes to socializing with people, Somu usually made a number of friends and consequently, fought with many of them in school. Hardly a week passes by without Somu’s friend’s mom coming to Somu’s house and complaining about Somu for breaking her son’s tooth. Ramu always stayed out of such incidents as he seldom spoke to other students of his class. Somu’s mom always scolded him – “Look at Ramu. See how good and obedient he is. Why don’t u be like him?”

So thus goes the school life. Ramu passes out in flying colors in his higher secondary and easily gets admission into one of the top engg colleges in the state. Somu, being the average student he is, only manages to get a payment seat in one of the self-financing colleges in the outskirts of the city. His father rants out at him – “Had u studied like Ramu, I could have saved a lot of money”. Somu always wanted to become a cricket player. But his father wanted both of his sons to become engineers (just because his brother’s sons were studying in engineering colleges). Just like in school, Ramu drowns himself in the world of mechanics whereas Somu becomes the college overall captain and the cultural secretary of the student association.

Ramu becomes a successful mechanical engineer and gets hired by Bajaj Auto for a package of 1.5 lacs. His parents are on cloud nine. They boast about their son’s five-figure salary to all their relatives. Somu does fairly well in college and finishes his computer engg. To his ill luck, he finds himself in a quagmire at a time when all the software companies were going through the recession phase and IT jobs lost >> IT jobs found. He wastes six months of his life searching for a job in vain. Fed up of all this, he decides to take up the GRE and go for a masters in the US. He approaches his dad and proposes his idea. His dad replies – “Look at ur brother Ramu. He earns close to 20,000 per month. And u! U want me to spend more than 2,00,000 per year for ur masters degree! Why don’t u imbibe at least a bit of ur brother’s character and behaviour?” So, amidst all this, Somu – the spoiled brat, the disobedient creature, the mischievous monkey, the irresponsible idiot flies off to the US of A to do his masters in computers.

Now then, did u understand what FSS is? Ramu was a classic example of a first-grade FSS victim. Ramu didn’t live a life out of his choice. It was rather, by chance. Right from his childhood, he was forced to lead his life that way. Though initially he liked being the ‘obedient boy’, he slowly started to envy Somu. How he wished he could play kabbadi and go around the streets with his friends, not caring about tomorrow’s exam – just like Somu did. He was inwardly proud of his brother’s athletic and theatrical skills. Every time he went to Somu’s college for a cultural function, he was amazed to see his brother’s popularity among the college students. Each time Somu sent a set of photographs taken in the US, Ramu eyed them with a lot of envy and jealousy. In fact, he looked at the pic which was taken in front of the Niagara Falls for more than 15 minutes. He had always wanted to go to the United States.

Though it may seem that Somu is the more pitiable person of the two, in reality, it is Ramu who has suffered a lot because of FSS. Somu has in fact lived a much happier life, but for the one yr in which he had no idea about his career. He did feel bad whenever his dad or mom scolded him and compared him with his brother. (In fact this was what I meant when I said – FSS influences the second son too.) But in our case, Somu never took them seriously as he was this ‘who cares?’ guy who seldom brooded over a thing for more than a minute.

Curing FSS might be a difficult process. Prevention is at the hands of the parents as they are the ones who sow the seeds of FSS at a very early age of their first son.

Proud Indians!

2005-07-02T02:05:00.000-04:00

Yesterday afternoon, two guys were sitting beside me in the food-court. They were talking about the pluses and minuses of India.

During the conversation one of them said - "We guys in India will never improve. Look at Japan and Singapore. See how they have developed in the past 30-35 yrs".

For which the other guy replied - "It is because of people like u who contribute nothing to the country but just keep complaining that India is not developing.. First give up the habit of complaining.. If u have anything constructive to do to this country, go ahead, i will appreciate u. But mere grumbling is total nonsense".

The first guy said - "Ok, cool down. I didn't mean anything. What makes u to react so angrily?"

"Well, it is the truth and sadly it is what most of our fellow Indians are doing. And this makes the Westerners think that we r still crawling under their feet. U know what happened when my brother went to his client's place in London?" asked the true Indian.

"What?"

"Well, let's say my brother is A and the Englishman client is B. This is the conversation that took place between them in the hotel room where they were checked-in."

A - "Ah, the AC is not working. Wait, i'll ring up the concierge and find out what's the problem"

B - "What? The AC is not working? U must be joking. I can't get a wink of sleep without the AC. U shouldn't have a big problem though.. U are after all from the scorching part of the world, India!"

A - "Hey, watch ur words there. We're no more under British Raj. My cabin in office is fully air-conditioned. I have an AC at home. My car has an AC. So, what do u say?"

B - "Oh, do u have ACs in India?"

A - "Why, do u want to import some?"

The proud Indian was beaming at the fact that his brother was also a proud Indian. After hearing all this the guy who had made anti-India statements spoke up - "That was an amazing reply from ur brother. Ya, i was wrong when i made those complaints! I retract them back! Shall we continue our lunch?"

Sania Mania!

2005-06-23T10:05:00.000-04:00

The media said - "Sania Mirza is India's Sharapova!" "It's not only the nose-ring which is glittering in the middle of the court". Though i was initially proud of this teenager Indian, i had my doubts after Dubai open and her poor run at the French Open. I agree, she did play well at the Hyderabad open, which she went on to win. But the hype the media built up after that tournament was simply over the board. Well, i'm not complaning for ur going hoopla about Sania Mirza, but think for a second about our very own Narain Karthikeyan, the world's fastest Indian (Dont quite understand why he is called the "World's" fastest Indian?!). And for that matter Pankaj Advani, the teenager who won the world's highest title in both Billiards and Snooker. So all this made me somewhat Anti-Sania. And the fact that she played somewhat scrappy tennis at the French open added to my anti-Saniaism. But yday after watching Sania play Kuznetsova at Wimbledon, i have changed my opinion about her. She played good, if not great tennis. And her forehand down the court was really a treat to watch. She is indeed a jewel in the crown of Indian women's tennis. But she has to concentrate more on the game and deliver her best, which i'm sure is yet to come. The biggest challenge before her now is to shrug off the media-hype and reject the modelling and acting offers which might come down her way anytime now. Her biggest advantage though is the Indian population, who r slightly shifting their focus from cricket to tennis. It is upto her to make/break this enormous fan following and the media build-up. Anyways, the last thing i would like to see is she becoming India's Kournikova!

My Kammapati Kamala

2005-06-18T11:53:00.000-04:00

It was the first day in school after our 8th std annual vacation holidays. We were sitting in our new classroom, looking in awe at the “speaker” which was newly installed high up in the wall above the black-board. One of our classmates said – “Introducing this year, they’ve installed this speaker in each of the classrooms. I heard Tamil miss saying so to the B section students. The system will be used to address the noisy classrooms in between periods. It seems the principal herself will scold the class through the speaker!”. I couldn’t stop imagining our princi speaking into it in her inimitable high-pitched voice, “Hello, mic-testing 1-2-3. Students of IX A, stand up on the bench.. Now!” I thought “Hmm.. That would be great fun”. There were not many newcomers to our class this time. The school bell rang and within minutes came our class-teacher Renuka Devi. She took Maths-I for us. After the “good-morning miss” chorus, she took our attendance, and then we’re asked to take down the Time-table for the year. We were eagerly hoping for more Library and sports periods this time. As we were filling the 5x8 matrix in our school calendars with the various subjects, I heard her voice for the first time – “May I come in, ma’am?”

A girl newcomer to the class is always a welcome sight. She checked with our miss if she’d entered the right classroom. I prayed she had. Thank god her second-language was Hindi, for there was no place for Hindi students in B and C sections. She was not this oh-so-beautiful girl, whom poets would compare with the moon, but she was quite good-looking. Tall, wheatish in color and bespectacled. I don’t believe in love at first sight. But, something told me that she was my kinda girl. She introduced herself to the class. Shuba was her name. A native of Chennai, she was a Tamilian but had been in Bangalore for the past three years because of her dad’s transfer. Our class teacher asked her to be seated and she occupied the empty place in the bench just in front of ours.

Days passed and we made good friends with each other. We shared a lot of common interests – Hindi movies, Reader’s Digest, Cricket, Tintin and Football. Yes, football ! She was a soccer fanatic. Though I knew nothing other than Maradona and Lothar Mathaeus in the world of football, I would somehow get along in the conversation. Thanks to the ‘World Cup’ bubble gum company which gave out free football stars’ cards during WC 90 and 94. I had a great number of them in my drawer at home. I would say to her - “Walter Zenga is a great goalie, u know.” Walter sported big gloves holding the ball in his hand in the ‘World Cup’ card. Even a second standard kid could say he was a goal-keeper by looking at the picture. J !

Ninth standard was a big turning point in my life. Not just because of this girl affair. That was when I got to learn about more important things other than just magnetism and the cyclone patterns of the south-west monsoon. Our gang comprised of myself, Vishnu and Raja. We started addressing ourselves “Mama” and “Machi” (college lingo for cooldude) in a crowd so that others could hear it. Though it sounded out of place initially, we got used to it after months of non-stop trial. Same way, we started practising certain bad words in Tamil, some of which are a must-in-every-sentence for a Machi to be respected in his elite community. So these became more important things in life than my crush on Shuba. But, it was still there at the bottom of my heart. Both of us came to school by cycle and I would consider my day lucky if I chanced to meet her at the cycle stand in the morning. In the middle of boring “Mayor of Casterbridge” lectures, I’d throw my pen down by her side, waiting for her to pick it and give it back to me with the trademark wink in her eyes. In my bad days, Rajesh who sat alongside in the next row would take it and break the pen’s cap and return it to me with the i’m-the-strongest-in-class grin on his monstrous face.

Vishnu was one of my close friends. He and Raja were my benchmates. We took utmost pleasure in playing jokes on Shuba, Laxmi and Meena, our front-benchers. ‘‘There’s nothing more enjoyable than seeing a girl laugh at your timely humor’’ has always been a truthful quote in my life. I was quite proud of the fact that I was somewhat good in general knowledge in our gang and she was the brainy lot amongst her friends which made me think we both were in a plane above the others. Vishnu was quite close to Shuba. But I was sure that he did not see her that way until one morning when I entered our classroom to see both of them sitting alone in the class and laughing over something. I felt my heart pang. And that incident made me imagine things up and even today, I believe Vishnu had an eye for her. I tried my best to attract her attention towards me by humming the latest Hindi songs and reading the same Tintin book which she had borrowed from the library. And it seemed to be working fine (or was I wondering?) as she took me in as a confidant and discussed (gossiped actually) about the personal traits of Vishnu and Raja.

Annual exams started and we were busy preparing for it. Apart from the formal banalities of saying “Hi”, “Bye” and some few-minute conservations about the question paper, we didn’t get much time for ourselves. Before it was late, our annual vacations started. As we did not have a telephone connection in our house we didn’t even get a chance to speak to each other. I spent the whole vacation by playing non-stop cricket and badminton with my neighbor friends and I didn’t really miss her as I was always with friends and it was always fun with them around.

Back to school after the vacations. This time, our class teacher adopted a new technique of shuffling rows each day. Actually we, ‘the terrific threesome’ sat parallel to Shuba’s bench in the adjacent row. Because of this new technique adopted by our teacher, we would find ourselves separated by one row on 2 out of 5 days. And to my misery, on one of the unfortunate days in a week, the shuffling technique stopped abruptly. So we spent the rest of the year with one row in between us L ! However, tenth standard whizzed away at the speed of light. And our “friendship” also grew thick and fast. You want proof? Well, here r some instances..

1) We would exchange messages written by ballpoint pen on Natraj Plasto erasers.. I would write something and throw it to her and she would reply to me on the other side of the eraser and send it back to me.
2) Whenever I took a planned leave, I would announce it loudly for the whole class to hear on the previous day – “I’ll be on leave tomorrow” for atleast 3-4 times. She would respond to it by saying a loud “Ok” to Laxmi, seated right next to her.

So, after our tenth results came, it was time for us to choose our specialisation in Higher Secondary. Actually, some of my mom’s friends advised me to join another good school, but I told my mom that I cannot part with Vishnu and Raja. Poor guys, they also took the bait. I knew beforehand that she would take Computer Science, so I also opted for the same. And this time, we were lucky. We sat in the same row. We guys were the last-benchers. The dames took the penultimate bench. This seating arrangement put an end to our eraser-messaging technique.. Thank God! That could have been embarassing anytime.. Eleventh standard was real cool.. It was during then that I reached my highest point in my relationship with her and pretty easily guessably, to the other extreme in my studies. My Maths tuition class usually got over by 7 in the morning and hers by 7.30. As the two tuition centres were quite far away, I would cycle fast in order to reach a long road which she had to take in order to reach her home from her centre. She would come by that way and i would feign a “Hi” as though our meeting was coincidental. She would ask me what I was doing there. For which my standard reply was – “I’ve given my dresses for alteration / stitching at the tailor’s shop which is at the end of the road.” So, we would go cycling till the end of the road and then say “Bye, see u at school”.. I was always worried that she might one day turn back to see me and check if I was telling the truth. So, to be on the safer side, I’ll stop at the tailor’s shop for a minute, go in and come back immediately, take my cycle and rush to my home.

Amidst all this, I was pretty confident that she was seeing me until the rumours about her and B section Ravi started to crop up. It was only after a week-long under-cover investigation that I came to know it was only a rumour which was doing the rounds, courtesy of B section guys. I was relieved at the outcome of the probe. But it was after that incident that I made up my mind to speak it out with her. One fine day, during the lunch break when she was not in her seat, I sat down on her bench and started to scribble on a piece of paper the lines of a famous song by the boy band – “Boyzone”..

“This world has lost its glory.. Let’s start a brand new story..
Now, my love..
U think that I don’t even mean a single word I say..
It’s only words and words that all I have.. To take ur heart away..
Da da da da da da da.. Da da da da da da da.. “

(Thanks to the music album “NOW3” which I borrowed from my friend. It had the lyrics of all the songs in the audio cassette).

Before I could get up from there and leave for my desk, Laxmi and Meena were already there. I always had the notion that these two girls knew of “my crush on Shuba” (How I wish I could say “the thing between me and Shuba”?). But to my disappointment, their reaction after reading my ‘proposal-note’ was rather low-key. Puzzled at that, I retreated to my bench and waited for her to come back and read what I had written. Man, I have never been more nervous in my life. She came back and her initial reaction after reading the note was nothing different from Laxmis’ and Meenas’ ! Now that was a real heart-breaker. After a few minutes, I glanced to look at her and all I could understand from her impassive face was that she was fighting hard to control her tears. By then I was thinking of too many things at the same time – Did I hurt her by acting like this? Was she in love with Vishnu / Ravi? Is anything / anyone preventing her from accepting my love? I was clueless. Though there was not any plain rejection on the face, the truth started to sink in me. I was quite sad for a few days after that. But then, I didn’t start growing long beards nor did I try the ‘scathing my wrist with a blade’ technique for I was quick to realise that it was just an infatuation.. an attraction towards the opposite sex at an adolescent age. The only good out of this thing was – not many (even Raja and Vishnu for that matter) knew that such an incident ever took place. Well, that saved me a lot of blushes!

Days passed and though we (myself and Shuba) didn’t speak with each other for a few weeks after ‘Operation Boyzone’ we kinda couldn’t avoid each other. So, we maintained a cordial relationship and it was not until we reached halfway through our final year in school that we became close friends again. As an experienced campaigner, this time I was sure that this meant nothing beyond friendship. Our board exams approached and each of us were busy mugging the chemical equations of organic chemistry and the formulae for McLaurin’s theorem and Laplace transform. After the exams, our school farewell was organised and it was quite opposite to what is generally expected out of a farewell. It was not teary, it was not sentimental. Instead, we were all on a high looking forward to become college-goers. Each of us promised to keep in touch and parted ways as we ended our 14-year-long-stint called Schooling.

Contrary to popular belief, I scored well in the exams and was lucky to get a seat in the prestigious Madras Institute of Technology. Vishnu, Raja and Shuba got into decent self-financing colleges. Actually Raja and Shuba got into different branches of the same engg college. I maintained constant touch with most of my schoolmates. I kinda became a netizen by the 2nd yr in college and started an e-groups for our batch in school. Shuba also became a member of the group even though we’re not in close contacts. In the days to come I started to notice a strange thing – Shuba used to call me whenever she needed any help. Not that I minded it or I was not ready to help. But that was a pattern I began to take note of. She called me requesting for engineering textbooks, GRE books etc. I also did my best to help her. We even met some 3-4 times near my college to do the book-transfer. Even before this, Raja once told me that Shuba was seeing (may have even been dating) one Prasad in their college. That revelation influenced me to the least as I had, by that time decided that she was never going to go well with me. The school thingie was just a fantasy between childhood and adulthood.

Final year of college. I got selected in a software firm through campus recruitment. And i was quite busy with placement related activities in my college. Shuba called me now and then asking for test papers of different companies and tips for attending interviews. I somehow got this feeling that she called me more often after I got selected in a decent company. I may well have been wrong. On the day before the CAT exams for MBA (sometime in November) she called me up and asked whether I was taking the test the next day. She said she had been calling all her friends who were going to take the test. I said no and that I was not going to pursue higher studies, atleast not in the next 1-2 yrs. It happened that CAT exams were re-scheduled that year because of question paper leaks. The re-scheduled exam was to take place on Feb 15th. As I was a placement representative in college, I had started using a cellphone (courtesy of my classmate Gokul) from the beginning of final yr in college. My cellular service provider was Aircel and they gave an offer of free sms (short messaging service) on Feb 14 (Valentine’s Day). I used this opportunity to send Val day wishes to all the womenfolk on my phone book. And the message I sent to Shuba was – “Hi Shuba! Happy Valentine’s Day. There are 2 reasons why I’m sending u this – 1) My sms is free today. 2) Being the first of my few crushes, u certainly deserve a Val day wish! Have a great day”. She replied saying – “Thanks da. That was a really cool wish. So nice of u. Happy Valentine’s day to u too!”. I don’t know why but I had the feeling that I was kinda winning a long-fought battle.. a revenge rather. There was more reason for me to celebrate. She called me that very evening and asked if I was writing CAT the next day ?! I was thinking – “Didn’t I tell her last time that I was not writing?”. Anyways, I said no and then she asked me as to how my day went. I replied saying that I was just sitting idle at home waiting for some gal to call up and bang came her reply – “Oh, don’t u worry da.. I’ve called up no..” My happiness knew no limits. “I had won! Yes, yes!” – I was telling to myself pumping my fist in the air. We then spoke for a few minutes before hanging up. I was really happy that day. Though she did nothing like proposing and I did nothing like turning her down, I was elated over what had happened. I had not been wrong in school. She too had felt it.. all along. To reject someone, who had rejected u long back is a sweet revenge!! And I was revelling on it as I was the one who had the last laugh!

P.S: The title of the story “KAMMAPATI KAMALA” is a character in the Tamil film “Autograph”, whom the hero of the film falls in love with during his school days.

The French Hospital

2005-06-17T09:13:00.000-04:00

It was the summer after our Std XII board exams and engineering entrance exams. Well, we certainly deserved a long break after months of mugging and more mugging. But that particular year, everything got more delayed than usual. Our board exams results was postponed. And one fine evening, our engg entrance TNPCEE (Tamil Nadu Professional Courses Entrance Exam) results were put up on the internet. I scored 87.92 upon 100. The split-up being 45 in Maths and 42.92 in Physics and Chemistry combined. It was a good score and if u were to compare it with previous year’s results, it was one of the best. But this time, there were many people who had done well as the much feared entrance exam was a lot more easier than the previous year. Anyways, I was personally very happy with my score. I hoped I could get into ECE dept of PSG, Coimbatore assuming a good score in my board exams. So, we were all waiting for our board results – i was quite confident of getting a very good score (except for Physics – Boy, that was a very lengthy paper!). The wait ended and i was told that I’d got 1119 upon 1200. It was indeed right. Centum in Maths, 198/200 in Physics, 191/200 in Chemistry. Well, that meant my engineering aggregate or “cut-off” was 284.92 out of 300 ! (There’s a weird formula for arriving at the cut-off). I was overjoyed with my performance (esp in Physics) and my PSG hopes were getting bigger and better. People told me that I could even get a seat in CSE and ECE courses of Anna varsity - the premium institution for engg in Tamil Nadu. But I preffered PSG or CIT, both in Coimbatore as I wanted to live alone and lead an independent life. I’ve even imagined myself washing my clothes in one of the bathrooms of PSG/CIT hostels. :-) !

All through the summer, I used to go to Sairam’s (my school+tuition mate) place, from where we’d go to the cricket ground at Nemilichery. We (me, Sairam, Kumaran, MK, Suresh, Panneer, Ravi, Balaji, Jaga, Ranga, Lakshmi and some others) teamed up and played bet matches (tennis ball, chucking) every Sunday against a team made up of people who were well above 25, some of them even brought their children with them to the ground. But we’d perform reasonably well against them and we also won a number of times. Me and Sairam were the strike bowlers of our team. The left-right combination worked magic for us. (Sai was a lefty). MK and Balaji opened our batting. Suresh was the ever-reliable all-rounder. Hmm.. Those were really great days.

So, things were going fine and our next wait was for the announcement of TNEA (Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions) rank list. Based on this rank list, we’d be called for the engg counselling where we make a choice out of the available seats in various colleges through what is called a “Single-window system” devised by Anna University. I’m not sure why they named it so. The rank list was scheduled to be published on June 10th. But, we’re told that the list would be up on the internet the previous night itself. I didn’t have a computer at home that time. So, I went to Raghavan’s (schoolmate and a great friend) place at Pozhichalur. I’d planned a night out there (after checking our TNEA ranks in Raghavan’s friend’s place).

Me, Raghavan and Siva were benchmates in our school since Std VII. My journey in NSN school began from 3rd std. Rags and Siva joined two years later. We became great buddies in around 2 yrs time. Both of them hailed from Pozhichalur. Their houses were some 2 to 3 streets apart. Though I’ve visited there some 3-4 dozen times, I always get lost whilst trying to go from one’s house to another. Biju lived behind Raghavan’s house. I got to know him and Ramanathan through Raghavan and Siva. Actually, both of them are one yr senior to us. They had quit REC, Jamshedpur the previous yr due to worst ragging. Both of them had written their improvement exams with us and they were also waiting for the rank list. Out of this gang, only Biju was ahead of me with respect to cut-off. He had 285.6 something. Don’t remember the exact decimals. But he was some 0.7 ahead of me.

Evening fell and the excitement rose. Going by previous years rank list, my cutoff deserved a 300 and odd rank, with a seat assured in PSG or even Anna University. Friends and others turned my hopes into a big dream and I was sure that I’d get a rank in the 500 range, the 200 rank difference being my tribute to the fact that our exams were easier than previous years’. Anyways, I was hopeful of a 500 plus or minus 50 rank. Two hours should have passed. Biju came in running and there was a sarcastic smile written large on his lips. Then came the news. He was ranked 809 ! That was a shock, more terrifying than an electric one. We recovered from it quite quickly and rushed to Arun’s (another guy of our set who lived close-by) house. He had an internet connection at home. I was thinking, if Biju was 809, then the 0.7 mark difference should fetch me a rank between 825 – 850. That ruled out Anna University CSE and ECE out of the scene. PSG would also be not easy. My dreams stepped down to ECE in CIT or GCT, Coimbatore. The rest of our gang went inside Arun’s house. I was standing outside the gate waiting for the alsatian (or was it a labrador?) to be securely harnessed in a corner. I went in and by that time they’d seen my rank as they knew my register number by-heart. 964! Yes, that was my rank. If news about Biju’s rank was an earthquake, this was a Tsunami ! I never thought a mere 0.7 difference would put us some 150 ranks apart.

Hopes shattered. Dreams turned into nightmares. 964 – that made me wonder of an admit in a decent self-financing college. Venkateswara was out of question. Maybe, I could get an ECE seat in either SRM or Crescent. Siva and Raghavan were ranked somewhere in four-digits, with Siva leading by a grand difference. He was saying to Rags – “This rank list doesn’t make a great difference to us. But it seems, Vijay will be most affected because of this.” Though their ranks were also way below expectations, his statement made sense as they were, however hoping for admits in self-financing colleges. I and Biju were the ones who seemed to have suffered the most. I consoled myself and felt inwardly a bit happy to have atleast got a three-digit rank. Everything got over. So, how did we celebrate our ‘great achievement’? BF!! Yes, blue film. That is how we call a full length pornographic movie. We planned to rent/borrow a blue-film video tape and watch it in Raghavan’s house.

The forthcoming part of the story might not be suitable to appear in a public forum. In case you want to read the full post, please leave a comment. I'll send it across to you by email. Thanks!

New kid on the blo(g)ck!

2005-06-17T08:49:00.000-04:00

At last i'm here. Blogging has so far been alien to me. Two reasons for me being here : 1) I wanted to post a comment on my brother's article and the comments link said "This blog does not allow anonymous comments". And, i understood (or did i misunderstand?) that i've to create an account first in order to post a comment. 2) Of late, i have tried to write something, actually wrote a short story and started to write another. So, my next post will be my first real attempt at writing. Don't come to a conclusion that i'm a promiscuous blogger after reading that. Will try to visit here again and enlighten u all with my nonsensical crap!