Friday, October 30, 2009
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Regionalism...
Regionalism is rearing its ugly head in India. This is not because the common man has any interest in whether the auto he takes to work is driven by a north indian or because the theatre near his place is playing a Tamil movie. Again, a few politicians who only have their selfish interests at heart are playing their cards in such a manner so as to incite people against each other.
Take the recent fallout of the incidents in Mumbai...After Raj Thackeray's statement, tens of thousands of North Indians left Mumbai. Result: Acute shortage of the daily labor that worked in Mumbai's small scale industries, owners unable to run their small businesses and the Mumbaikars who work there also losing their jobs. Just think of a normal Indian middle class man/ woman. Does he/ she care where Amitabh Bacchan is going to start a college, do they have time enough to worry about where the person standing next to them in the train comes from. Do they have time enough to take part in protests against Bacchan saab or to attack North Indian hawkers and taxi drivers. All these protests and attacks are the work of a few political leaders who want to remain in the news at all costs. Have you ever noticed attacks by so called 'Student Leaders' on TV? Do any of these student leaders remotely look like students??? It is time that these stupid political workers as they call themselves realize that they would be much better off doing some legitimate work to feed the waiting mouths at home rather than hanging around the worthless political leaders who use and discard them at their whim and fancy.
And to the MNS, DMK and other political parties who keep playing up the Regional card...India is known for its Unity in Diversity. The East India company was only able to establish its rule over us because of our infighting and we were able to throw them out only when India rose as one against the British rule. Now, for your few moments of fame, do not divide us again. If we need to fight, lets fight against external enemies, not against each other.
Take the recent fallout of the incidents in Mumbai...After Raj Thackeray's statement, tens of thousands of North Indians left Mumbai. Result: Acute shortage of the daily labor that worked in Mumbai's small scale industries, owners unable to run their small businesses and the Mumbaikars who work there also losing their jobs. Just think of a normal Indian middle class man/ woman. Does he/ she care where Amitabh Bacchan is going to start a college, do they have time enough to worry about where the person standing next to them in the train comes from. Do they have time enough to take part in protests against Bacchan saab or to attack North Indian hawkers and taxi drivers. All these protests and attacks are the work of a few political leaders who want to remain in the news at all costs. Have you ever noticed attacks by so called 'Student Leaders' on TV? Do any of these student leaders remotely look like students??? It is time that these stupid political workers as they call themselves realize that they would be much better off doing some legitimate work to feed the waiting mouths at home rather than hanging around the worthless political leaders who use and discard them at their whim and fancy.
And to the MNS, DMK and other political parties who keep playing up the Regional card...India is known for its Unity in Diversity. The East India company was only able to establish its rule over us because of our infighting and we were able to throw them out only when India rose as one against the British rule. Now, for your few moments of fame, do not divide us again. If we need to fight, lets fight against external enemies, not against each other.
Shoaib Akhtar...errant to an unbeleivable degree!
The PCB finally decided to end the drama once and for all I guess. A 5 year ban on Shoaib Akhtar who is already 32 years old effectively means his career is over. Unless he appeals and the PCB, known for its inconsistency decides to overturn the ban. Cricinfo carried a time line on his offenses and titled it as "A tale of intrigue, injuries and incidents". I would have much rather called it "A tale of Arrogance, Attitude and Aspersions". It is natural for a school teacher to turn a blind eye to some mischief committed by a top ranking student once or twice, but if he becomes a habitual offender, the teacher would be left with no other choice but to discipline him. This is what happened with Shoaib Akhtar too. A classic case of success going to one's head and ruining everything. I doubt if such behavior would have been tolerated for so long anywhere else in the world, but better late than never. Goodbye Shoaib...
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Many things!
Got some time today and I'm determined to post....about a lot of things, movies that I have seen, the India-Aus series etc etc.
Saw a telugu movie by name Gamyam a couple weeks ago. After a long time, one telugu movie that I recommended to everyone I met once I had seen it. Inspired (in the strictest sense of the word) from Motorcycle Diaries, this is one movie that had its heart in the right place. Neatly made, it did bow down to the diktats of the commercial movie framework at some places, but at most others was very well written. It once again dispelled the myth that you need a superhero to carry a film, the film rests on the able shoulders of its script. Superlative performances by Sharwanand and 'Allari' Naresh and a good one by Kamalini Mukherjee (who of course is hampered by the fact that she does not understand a word of what she is made to mouth) make this movie a delightful watch. Go check it out, you will not regret it. Well done Krish, we hope to see more from you.
And then I saw Jodha Akbar...and people were right when they said it was too long. It was indeed very long an I had no idea what Mr. Gowariker intended to make at the end of the movie. Did he want to showcase the life of Akbar? Did he want to show the lovestory between Jodha and Akbar? Did he want to show us how fickle alliances were in that period or how Akbar had to tackle so much intrigue and treachery from inside and out all his life? I was frankly confused as he just kept meandering along all through the length of the movie from one track to another. But one thing that made the movie worth watching was the lead players. Hrithik and Aishwarya were made to look so ethereal that one could hardly take one's eyes off the screen when they were there. As Baradwaj Rangan wrote in his review, if Akbar and Jodha looked remotely like these guys did, how beautiful must the baby Humayun have been?
And finally about the best thing that happened in the last couple months. First we level the test series and the victory we secure comes at Perth, supposed to be their stronghold. Then we beat the World Beaters (Chuckle) in the CB series, three consecutive victories over them giving us the title. The greenhorns, as they were termed before the series suddenly emerged World Beaters and India has a fantastic leader to look forward to.
MS Dhoni deserves an entire post, but I will post a few impressions for now. For one, when after a particular match, where he had insisted and included Piyush Chawla in the eleven and that move paid off, he was asked how he always made the right decisions. This crafty man refused to take credit for the decision and instead this is what he said:
"It is not about me taking the right decisions. It is about the individual responding to the situation. I saw the pitch and thought Piyush would do well here, but if he had not risen to the occasion and put in such a fine performance, you would have been slamming me. So, it is thanks to the guys who have been repaying the faith I have in them."
That statement is a masterstroke. By saying a thing like that he is putting the onus right back on the players, he is telling them that he is willing to put his neck on the line for them and they have to pay him back with a good performance. And a person who would not perform in the face of such confidence imposed in him does not deserve to play international cricket.
Crafty man Dhoni...we doff our hats to you. Looking forward to greater victories!!!
Saw a telugu movie by name Gamyam a couple weeks ago. After a long time, one telugu movie that I recommended to everyone I met once I had seen it. Inspired (in the strictest sense of the word) from Motorcycle Diaries, this is one movie that had its heart in the right place. Neatly made, it did bow down to the diktats of the commercial movie framework at some places, but at most others was very well written. It once again dispelled the myth that you need a superhero to carry a film, the film rests on the able shoulders of its script. Superlative performances by Sharwanand and 'Allari' Naresh and a good one by Kamalini Mukherjee (who of course is hampered by the fact that she does not understand a word of what she is made to mouth) make this movie a delightful watch. Go check it out, you will not regret it. Well done Krish, we hope to see more from you.
And then I saw Jodha Akbar...and people were right when they said it was too long. It was indeed very long an I had no idea what Mr. Gowariker intended to make at the end of the movie. Did he want to showcase the life of Akbar? Did he want to show the lovestory between Jodha and Akbar? Did he want to show us how fickle alliances were in that period or how Akbar had to tackle so much intrigue and treachery from inside and out all his life? I was frankly confused as he just kept meandering along all through the length of the movie from one track to another. But one thing that made the movie worth watching was the lead players. Hrithik and Aishwarya were made to look so ethereal that one could hardly take one's eyes off the screen when they were there. As Baradwaj Rangan wrote in his review, if Akbar and Jodha looked remotely like these guys did, how beautiful must the baby Humayun have been?
And finally about the best thing that happened in the last couple months. First we level the test series and the victory we secure comes at Perth, supposed to be their stronghold. Then we beat the World Beaters (Chuckle) in the CB series, three consecutive victories over them giving us the title. The greenhorns, as they were termed before the series suddenly emerged World Beaters and India has a fantastic leader to look forward to.
MS Dhoni deserves an entire post, but I will post a few impressions for now. For one, when after a particular match, where he had insisted and included Piyush Chawla in the eleven and that move paid off, he was asked how he always made the right decisions. This crafty man refused to take credit for the decision and instead this is what he said:
"It is not about me taking the right decisions. It is about the individual responding to the situation. I saw the pitch and thought Piyush would do well here, but if he had not risen to the occasion and put in such a fine performance, you would have been slamming me. So, it is thanks to the guys who have been repaying the faith I have in them."
That statement is a masterstroke. By saying a thing like that he is putting the onus right back on the players, he is telling them that he is willing to put his neck on the line for them and they have to pay him back with a good performance. And a person who would not perform in the face of such confidence imposed in him does not deserve to play international cricket.
Crafty man Dhoni...we doff our hats to you. Looking forward to greater victories!!!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
The century jinx!!!
It has been a crazy few weeks over the last month and it continues to be so...I really need a break, need to get outta town for a couple days atleast. The blog has not been updated for over a month now and I just noticed that my last post was the 99th! Almost like Sachin's century jinx I guess. Nevertheless, hurrah to the 100th post. Normal service will resume in a couple weeks time. Till then, so long!
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Pics from Old City Continued....
A view from atop Charminar....the sheer number of autos here blew my mind away!
Monday, January 07, 2008
Bucknor or Blunder!
My sincere and earnest request to all the dictionary makers out there...Please replace the word Blunder in all your dictionaries with the word Bucknor...not much of a difference but the meaning will be all the more clear, even for people who do not understand English at all!
And Mr. Mike Procter, did no one teach you how to count? When four out of six people say they have not heard anything racist (Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar and the Umpires), it means the majority...2 out of 6 does not mean majority...and u shud take a decision based on what the majority tells you. Of course if you believe that the two umpires who could not hear any of the edges that were heard by the grandmother living in the next lane could not hear this also, I wholeheartedly support you. You can now hang a board saying 'If someone is taking Aussie wickets too frequently, they deserve to be banned'.
And regards the series, I lost out on so much sleep waking up at 5am in the morning to savor what I thought would be a great game of cricket. Instead I got to see loads of human errors (most of which go against Indians) and an insult to our ancestors...If it is true that we did descend from the apes, calling Andrew Symonds a monkey is an insult to mankind and the monkeykind too!
And Mr. Mike Procter, did no one teach you how to count? When four out of six people say they have not heard anything racist (Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar and the Umpires), it means the majority...2 out of 6 does not mean majority...and u shud take a decision based on what the majority tells you. Of course if you believe that the two umpires who could not hear any of the edges that were heard by the grandmother living in the next lane could not hear this also, I wholeheartedly support you. You can now hang a board saying 'If someone is taking Aussie wickets too frequently, they deserve to be banned'.
And regards the series, I lost out on so much sleep waking up at 5am in the morning to savor what I thought would be a great game of cricket. Instead I got to see loads of human errors (most of which go against Indians) and an insult to our ancestors...If it is true that we did descend from the apes, calling Andrew Symonds a monkey is an insult to mankind and the monkeykind too!
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Harsha Bhogle Rocks!
The joy of hearing about cricket from a former player is very different from hearing about it from a fan! And no one illustrates this better than Harsha Bhogle, our man for all seasons. Much has been written about his IIM background and all that but the thing I love most is that he enjoys his cricket. There is none of that hindsight wisdom that is always offered by the former greats sitting there. When he talks he talks about how well a shot is played and how sweet the sound of bat hitting ball was, there is not too much harping on how that is a copybook shot and how children wanting to become cricketers should see this shot and learn. In the last test at Melbourne, he said something about an Andrew Symonds pull shot that he repeated today for a VVS Laxman pull shot. Savor this....
"Just look at how he plays that pull shot, standing tall and swiveling away to glory, it is almost like he is dismissing the ball from his presence."
Just after lunch today, he opens the commentary for the third session saying "India are showing some fight today mainly due to the efforts of Vangivarapu Venkata Sai Laxman."
Just that small effort made to say the entire name, efforts of Laxman would never have sounded that effective!
Some more talking he did today about great players knowing when they have to do what...
"It is almost amazing how all the great players just seem to know what to do. Wasim Akram knew when the batsman was striding out confidently and when he was afraid. Sachin Tendulkar knows when the ball leaves the bowler's hand whether it is a four or a single. No effort required, they almost seem to know!"
That humility of accepting that he will probably never understand how they actually know. Other commentators would do their best to go on and explain how they know and all that, here it is his simple awe for the game!
Here is wishing that he continues this way and gives us many more quotable quotes...Let the passion for the game continue unabated Harsha bhai!
"Just look at how he plays that pull shot, standing tall and swiveling away to glory, it is almost like he is dismissing the ball from his presence."
Just after lunch today, he opens the commentary for the third session saying "India are showing some fight today mainly due to the efforts of Vangivarapu Venkata Sai Laxman."
Just that small effort made to say the entire name, efforts of Laxman would never have sounded that effective!
Some more talking he did today about great players knowing when they have to do what...
"It is almost amazing how all the great players just seem to know what to do. Wasim Akram knew when the batsman was striding out confidently and when he was afraid. Sachin Tendulkar knows when the ball leaves the bowler's hand whether it is a four or a single. No effort required, they almost seem to know!"
That humility of accepting that he will probably never understand how they actually know. Other commentators would do their best to go on and explain how they know and all that, here it is his simple awe for the game!
Here is wishing that he continues this way and gives us many more quotable quotes...Let the passion for the game continue unabated Harsha bhai!
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