madness of madras

20 - 20

2011-10-18T12:20:00.005-05:00

Doordarshan should try reviving its lost glory by doing stuff the same spirit that it did in in the past.

For example, *no one* does mythology, historicals, documentaries, quizzing shows the way Doordarshan did in the late '80s and the early to mid '90s. *None* even comes close. Look around!

To begin with, if they had to reimagine stuff like Bharat Ek Khoj by giving it a progressively modern sheen without losing any of its glory, grace, relevance and class, it should rope in people like Jaideep Sahni / Prasoon Joshi / Javed Akhtar to write, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy to score music, Shimit Amin / Vishal Bhardwaj to direct series' of episodes.

If it wants to target the right demographics from the late teens to 60s, and appear credible (up the TRPs incidentally), attract big sponsors, it shouldn't look beyond and hedge bets on Farhan Akhtar to do voice-overs, present the episodes. Few blokes in contemporary media typify "balance" in a manner Farhan Akhtar does.

I may be woefully ignorant of all those serious academics whose contribution would be definitive. Then let it be a healthy mix of scholars and celebs. Content and commerce will be in good marriage. Like any marriage, with healthy compromises.

People like these will ensure that pleasant attention to detail without losing out on the bigger picture. Realism, even if selective, will never appeal more. We have done it unconsciously in the past (apparently so). It could be very well done again. We have been primed enough for that.

The young generation needs it badly and none better than these people to pull back viewers into the right kind of television. For all the monetary success these people have had, they can only pay back this way. This will be their social service. It's about time.

That's far sightedness. That will be true to its name.

what's in a word?

2011-10-17T13:44:00.013-05:00

To me people who suffix all forms of their communication with -andi, -garu (as in avunandi, ledandi, kadandi, Rao garu, Silk Smitha garu) with folded arms and bent backs *and* yet slight others, belittle others' small yet personal and significant achievements, dismiss others' importance, believe in social hierarchies, who swear by slander are infinitely more violent, uncouth than those gentlemen who indulge in sister, mother (and all familial) profanities *and* still respect others in totality, believe in equality, harmony, peace, contentment (almost, always coming from internal strengths than external validations).

There are people who display remarkable sophistication in thought and idea despite being unable to put them succinctly, or in the so called polished way. I love them instantly. An idea, if big and important, takes care of its own travel to the listener. Words, and other tools could go to hell. Nice words are only a cherry on a perfectly baked cake.

Beautiful thoughts have helped man grow. Beautiful thoughts, despite all, run this world. Perversion comes from thought, not from words. The actual act is not perverse, the thought is.

Likewise, violence and the absence thereof comes from thought, not just words. Words are mere tools. Why blame the tools?

On a slight tangent, the idea of people indulging in something they don't preach just to subtly or overtly underline the importance of what they preach excites me tremendously.

It is like Mahatma Gandhi taking to a stick and spanking the motherfucking ass of someone disrupting the harmony in society. It is like a hooligan, a rowdy almost pulping someone who refuses to see the good intent, nice thought of a good samaritan.

"Adopt violence to reinforce the spirit of non-violence." WOW, what a sexy idea!

For a society, such as India, where ironically subtlety is recognized only when underlined, italicized, and in bold, it's what the doctor might just order for.

iSore

2011-10-13T14:07:00.005-05:00

If you claim to be a priest where Steve Jobs is a deity, are mourning his absence, want his ghost to *really* settle down (going by your r.i.p.ping social network diarrhoea), then please to remember

it is not IPHONE, IPAD, Ipad, IPod, ipod, iphone, iPAD.

Promise, it will make him roll in his grave. Apart from *everything* else, he has helped establish a culture where god doesn't lie in details, god is detail. It doesn't come easy, it didn't come easy. It is not trivial.

For heaven's sake (depending on which side of karma you are on), it is

iPod, iPhone, iPad, MacBook.

For Steve's sake.

mac ka lal

2011-10-10T16:55:00.005-05:00

Steve Jobs' contracted line of design-smugness?

Jonathan I've

organic chemistry

2011-10-04T10:41:00.005-05:00

“When I envisioned a rock music score, I didn’t want a copy of western rock. I wanted music that adhered to the principles of rock but originated from our land and from our realities.”

imtiaz ali

“We didn’t have to make four rock songs, a sad song and an item song. Each song carried a different expression. So I kept the sound organic - less synthesizers, less effects, more acoustic guitar and bass. The gypsy song (Hawa hawa) was the most difficult to compose as it had so many layers, styles and instruments woven in.”

“We had to make his character friendly to all kinds of audience and not just rock music aficionados. I didn’t want to tread that spaced-out, dope and booze-filled rock music scene (smiles). I have seen young people acting all rebellious, playing underground metal and trying to be cool (mocks an air guitar and laughs). When I was 11 or 12, I would set up keyboards for some local rock bands. They would go up on stage, going wild on their guitars. I would be like - the plug will get pulled out!”

a r rahman

anand holla . mumbai mirror

so be it

2011-10-02T18:42:00.003-05:00

rocktoberfest it is by imtiaz ali . mohit chauhan . a r rahman . irshad kamil

words fail me. fair enough. god bless these souls. really!

tathasthu!

2011-09-28T08:04:00.003-05:00

I haven't cried so much ever. Shedding not a drop of tear.

qu'n faya qu'n

godspeed rahman, on this journey of love.

of Telugu songs and their singers

2011-08-30T00:20:00.004-05:00

I am no expert in the technicalities of music. I am your average listener with average tastes.

Now that I have this out of my way, I have the right to say the following. Pretty redundant, I admit.

Telugu, of an unmatched sonic beauty, is very very sweet. If Saraswati had to speak, she'd choose Telugu. I would have said this even if I were not a native speaker of this divine language. There is some kind of divine niceness and purity to this language. At least phonetically. I use divine very carefully. I like the sound of nice and elegant Tamizh, nice and simple Malayalam, simple and un-harsh Marathi (the kind spoken by Shankar Mahadevan, Sachin Tendulkar and Harsha Bhogle). The enormous love for Hindi is beyond words.

But Telugu is on a totally different level altogether. A totally different level.

So there is no need on the part of singers in Telugu to add extra layers of sweetness to it. The kind of overcooking that borders at times on, dare I say, maudlin, and dare I say, coy. Plain irritating. The language takes care of itself pretty well there.

If I have to find a visual, photographic equivalent, I'd say what we are served with is gloss when all our heart craves and desires is pure matte.

While it is different to extend the scope of the song within the musical parameters as defined by the creator, it's totally different to add non-existent touches to it. One should have a feel for it. Either one knows it, or not. Most of the singers are guilty of it. Male singers are more guilty of it. Do they overcompensate for their supposed manliness and add an unnecessary sweetness to the songs?

Telugu also lends itself to expressions and dynamics one cannot imagine. But a random sampling of the songs over the last twenty years or so, reveals that we have stuck to mundane expressions, and mundane lyrics. When you throw this accusation, you are shown creations that feature great lyrics that only boast of some harsh sounding words of a more reference textbook variety.

We lack the ease of a Javed Akhtar, a Gulzar, or a more recent Prasoon Joshi, Jaideep Sahni. Notice I haven't used "contemporary" for Prasoon Joshi or Jaideep Sahni. Gulzar and Javed Akhtar are as contemporary and modern as anyone out there. Their remarkable felicity in weaving everyday words into poignant expressions so pregnant with meaning is unparalleled. Do you have to have a lexicon by your side to understand their writing? No!

"...baaho'n ke haar jo daale koi kaanha ke gale,
Radha kaise na jale?!"

"...kya karei'n zindagi isko hum jo mile
iski jaan khaa gaye raat din ke gile..."

When was the last time I heard such simple, elegant lines in my tongue?

Why is it that we who are blessed with a God's language do not do enough service? Will Veturi and Sirivennela be the last that we will ever revere? Why don't we ever foster newer thought, and if security (in all forms) is all we seek, an elegant twist to the cliched?

I think it's in our culture, it gets dirty there and that forms the basis for another post.

quite naturally

2011-08-24T11:31:00.004-05:00

Every time I am confused in life, I ask myself. At least of late.

Should I take man's way, as are we expected to naturally?

Should I ignore it altogether, and respect nature's way?

Nature's way is my ultimate compass in life, and it supersedes man's way. I'm trying real hard to get there. This will only help me maintain my sanity, and move along. It is painstakingly difficult, and I acknowledge that.

The more order we've tried to create to help ourselves, we've only introduced chaos in the process. When I am in the middle of all the mess created by man's various institutions, I look for an escape. I look to nature. If all's fine on that front, all's well in my life.

Owing to democratic thought, and subjectivity, there cannot be one guiding principle in our lives from man's way standpoint. Most of the times, that is nice. But in nature's way, there's no room for interpretation. No suiting to our tastes, no hypocritical twisting to our conveniences. There's only one truth. Almost dictatorial, and autocratic. It makes perfect sense to me.

I have erred and could very well err on man's way. I am not as scared as I'll be when I goof up on nature's order.

I will be fooling myself if I claim to be working on striking a balance. The scale tilts, and it's quite obvious.

I am in no way belittling man's way for what man has done over thousands of years is overwhelming beyond compare. But it's overwhelming only in face of the opposition or traction offered by nature. Nature has time and again shown us how to shut the fuck up. We would do really well to respect that, and adjust our priorities.

The English Channel

2011-08-02T15:25:00.007-05:00

chuck the false bells, out the used straws
sooner or later, comes a leveling loss.

stock up on *spirit*, holy, and otherwise
when he cuts and slashes, you'll be looking to the skies.

milk the udrs, point the hawk eye, lay any trap
don't bother, don't be bemused, his bat cuts all crap.

brace yourselves, pommies, and the rest go agog,
coming soon to edgbaston, virender sehwag.

The Pataudi Trophy . England vs. India . Birmingham . Aug 10 - 14 . 2011

my barber makes the cut

2011-07-26T14:11:00.006-05:00

I have a history with barbers. Documented less, but I do. Here and here.

A trim never, ever remains a trim. It finds its way into a full-fledged cut organically. But it does. You shall never exit the door within five minutes of your entry.

They like to talk, and how!

Barbers, I repeat, are the best movie critics, social commentators.

This follows the above. My barber from Hyderabad may not speak the same language my American fellow does. But they both stand for the same ethos. All of them are so ably in touch with the societal pulse. Their knowledge of what's in, what's out, what's OK, and what's not is not just limited to their line of work but so remarkably extends to very many other facets of our daily lives.

the return of the pun'gent

2011-07-17T12:44:00.005-05:00

Propensity to relieve oneself, over and over,

Pee r pressure ?

train of thought

2011-06-15T18:47:00.011-05:00

This is one of those unscientific child-posts. Beware!

I love this song. I simply love this song. I have acknowledged my awe time and again. I feel this is a lesson in visual language with an appropriate (beautiful) grammar to go with.

Framing, composition, energy, casting, choice of location, colors, coordinates and perspectives.

But there's a period in this song the start of which has always left me smiling. Always! I never knew why. But I knew and I realized I smiled every time it started. I knew something different was happening. I couldn't my finger to it. I think I have a reason now.

Here's the actual edit in its original form.

The majority of the song has us follow the train. With Santosh Sivan and his team lodged on the train we see what they are seeing as we follow the train. Whether it is fast, is slow, whichever direction it is moving in.

Deciding to shoot on a moving train is a brave decision. There's only so much you could do in terms of space. No matter what you do, you are limited and run the risk of bringing in the devil of boredom. But you cannot help it, you have decided to shoot the song on a moving train. Live with it!

So, in come the distractions. In an effort to break the visual monotony, Sivan employs a lot of profile shots. But most of these shots have a stationary camera, a hinged camera following the train as it chugs along on a beautiful bridge.

But this edit I have made shows the team follow the train for the first time on a parallel track/road/space in an almost "V" shape. We move along the train in its direction. All the earlier motion is in a direction perpendicular to our field of vision. This for a change breaks the momentum. Most amazingly it also coincides with a change in the song.

Here it is in its altered form at 80% speed.

Sometimes the mundane become exciting with a change in perspective.

Visual choreography at its very best! :)

kuch bhi, haan?!

2011-06-02T13:06:00.006-05:00

In the state capital of Andhra Pradesh how do you identify the children of gentlemen in the Indian Armed Forces?

* Their domestic grocery is all about Ratandeep Super Market, and aaloo aur tamatar.

* The limits of their geography tend to Trimulgherry, Bolaram, Vikrampuri, Alwal, Gunrock, and of course, Sainikpuri.

* The farthest they would have travelled to in their city: Secunderabad Railway Station, and in the past, and that too rarely, Begumpet Airport. Madapur? Wahaan jaane ke liye kaunsi train leni padthi hai?

* Music, celebration, festivities, fun and frolic do not remain music, celebration, festivities, fun and frolic if they don't happen in Secunderabad Club. RSI is for ballroom dances, you dimwit!

* Dilsukhngar, Barkatpura, Hussaini Alam, Yakutpura, Malakpet, Mir Alam Mandi, Barkas, Kukatpally; What are they, places in the neighboring Orissa?

* Alright, I exaggerated. As always. Their servants and domestic helps hailing from Telangana are aware of these places. People such as Sarita didi, who makes amazing aaloo gobi and Venkat anna /bhaiyya who gets their clothes ironed.

* If coming from other places, say up north, or back from a vacation, their destination is Secunderabad and not Hyderabad.

* The only train's name they are aware of is 2723. What are Narayanadhri, Venkatadhri, Godavari, Padmavathi, Repalle Passenger? Some rivers ?!

Of senses and sensibilities

2011-05-19T16:19:00.004-05:00

Where are Anna Hazare and Poonam Pandey now? I mean, do they still blip on your mental radars? Don't you feel cheated by Poonam Pandey? I don't blame you. Why do I say blame? Because I already know the answer.

Most of us shamelessly hopped onto the circuses played out by the national and local media. While they moved onto the next visceral show and pound of meat, we are left in the lurch; shagging and peeing in a no man's land. All pun intended.

I still cannot understand how most of us form idols by observing people from a distance. We give them character and conduct certificates. It's fine if we know those "idols" in person. But no, we don't enjoy that privilege most of the times. We don't take their actions and performances for what they are. We like to go beyond. "Oh, he is such a great man!" "Oh, he is so humble!" "Oh, he is so generous."

We like to believe in the storytellers, not the stories.

When these "great souls" go on to live their lives the way they would have perfectly envisioned in their minds, we feel ditched. We feel cheated, and shortchanged. When the idol courtship ends, out of frustration we are left to masturbating in solitude.

Do not make judgments in life based on relayed perceptions. Trust yourself. If you stand vindicated, you are happy. If you are not, at least you don't get to blame others. That will only lead to more frustration.

Trust only what appeals to your senses. I feel only that is real. Opinions, judgments, analyses do change, and in hindsight may seem silly. But your real experience never cheats you. It's how it was meant to be taken. There is no thinking, mental calibration required. If you feel the need to do it, you are trying to align with the norm. You need not be a norm breaker. In any case, try being true to yourself. That is if you respect and love yourself.

Cherry pick in life and move on. Keep your senses open. Nothing is perfect. Perfection is a myth. Mix and match. Resist being weighed down by dogmas.

Storytellers can cheat you. Stories never will.

grief

2011-05-02T16:44:00.007-05:00

To think that the families and relatives of all the victims would be rejoicing upon a single soul's passing away, however purportedly a mega zealot, is utterly juvenile and sad.

No I haven't experienced death ever. I have been fortunate to not have come close to it to celebrate a second life. My first life is way too precious to me to consider the importance of a second one.

But I think death of someone close, or in milder terms, the moving away of near and dear must be so overwhelming that one would have no inclination to allocate time and mental resources to avenge the crime. Forget it. It happens only in movies. There should be no consolations sought here; not the least, the killing of someone. Longing for the departed/victims is, must, should be the only overarching feeling.

To then suggest that they would hit the streets to vent out their joy at the sight of a slain soul would be insulting the love they would have had for their loved ones in the first place.

political anna'rchy

2011-04-08T21:27:00.007-05:00

"... abe suppandi V-i-dh-ya nahi V-i-dy-a. V-i-dh-ya kya hota hai be?! Kitni baar?! Tum bhi naa..."

"... OK, listen! Vidhya..."

"...Ufff! haan sun! Vidya has gone to pick Aarav up from the play school. You batter be here soon. Raakhi nahi bandhwaani hai kya?..."

"... no dude, it's not like that, ..."

"... would you have shown the same spark of enthusiasm if it were some Selvarajan or a Sambamurthy?..."

"... tu kya kehne ki koshish kar raha hai?..."

"... no wonder films such as Rang De Basanti and A Wednesday become a rage with you guys. You need nothing to chew on; just instant noodles to feast upon, and funnily, that too pre-digested. You believe in instant justice. Pop justice."

"... abe rehne de. What have you "thinking" motherfuckers achieved in life? Bas behenchoth you guys drown yourselves in saaambur & curd rice and start armchair theorizing for anything and avrything. Kya ukhaadna hai tumhaare overanalysis ne? Koi faayda hai? Kisika kuch bhala hua hai?! .."

"... at least we don't jump into these fly-by-night made-in-Janakpuri operations. Here today, gone the day after tomorrow, makkhan maar ke ;)..."

"...abe haraami how skeptical can you get? Yahaan par ek aadmi apni jaan pe khel kar kuch karne ki koshish kar raha hai. You guys don't want to contribute only! I think your silence and doubts are just to rationalize all the crores and crores which you, your previous generations and your slimy politicians have stashed up. Aa jaate hain saale baat karne. Ghanta, haan ghanta..."

"...it's not like that dude. It's not that it didn't exist before this chap came up and it won't exist after he's gone. We need to think longterm. We guys just cannot afford to be myopic. It's dangerous, and we are giving false hope to people. With due respect..."

"... abe phir se vahi baat. Raspact ka kya humne achaar lagaana hai. Raspact, huh! Kab tak chup rahenge hum log. Koi to banda initiative le raha hai naa. Tum log na sirf baat karne ke liye paida hue ho. I seriously think years of conservative and play-safe approach has numbed you guys. Numbed every ounce of your bodies. All your senses... "

"... no dude, it's not like that, ..."

"... Ufff! haan sun! Vidya has gone to pick Aarav up from the play school. You batter be here soon. Raakhi nahi bandhwaani hai kya?..."

"... OK, listen! Vidhya..."

"... abe suppandi V-i-dh-ya nahi V-i-dy-a. V-i-dh-ya kya hota hai be?! Kitni baar?! Tum bhi naa..."

Happy New Year

2011-04-07T22:25:00.002-05:00

When life gives you lemons, make yummy lemon rice.

Prosper!

Happy Ugadi

thalapathi redux

2011-03-24T14:36:00.008-05:00

If you commit blasphemy, I say, commit it well.

Without actually casting against the grain (!), keeping both pure acting chops "and" box office commerce in mind

if you had to re-imagine Thalapathi (1991) without losing its essence, point, idea (obvious and not-so-obvious), and most importantly, try to recreate the onscreen magic (very very intangible), cast the following

Anushka Shetty Subbalakshmi

Srividya Kalyani

Siddharth Narayan Arjun

Prithviraj Sukumaran Devaraj

and

NTR Jr. Surya

minority report

2011-03-04T17:51:00.006-06:00

My heart goes out to all those living on the fringes "within" a family/not a part of the mainstream - by choice, socially, economically, racially, culturally, habitually, sexually - who make an extra conscious effort to prove themselves instead of just letting it be. Despite being themselves unapologetically, those who harbor somewhere a little desire to prove a point to and be taken seriously by the dismissive, judgmental majority.

Sometimes not necessarily out of force but out of love for the close ones, and out of fear of losing them.

pun'gent rises again

2011-03-01T01:53:00.006-06:00

How can an EOS capture everything so well?

"kyonki Canon ke haath lambe hote hain"

taare zameen par

2011-02-21T20:57:00.003-06:00

Fuck slice-of-life, pretentious, layered, textured, loaded-with-subtext, real, abstract cinema.

Give me these larger-than-life cinematic moments when you couldn't dream of reaching the stars, when boundaries were strictly defined, when we yearned to touch them, when our aspirational levels were super high, when we cherished little successes after endlessly looking forward to them not taking anything for granted, when our grins travelled from ear to ear upon simple acquisitions.

When laying hands upon the tickets to these cinemas and literally smelling them meant the world to us.

Give me back my 1980s. If only I could trade in some of current inconsequential stuff for those moments.

Notice how, from 2.13 - 2.20, Balu takes us on a ride with his

...vasantaalu ennosthunna kokilamma kaburedi...

and is in his absolute element when he, from 2.27 - 2.34, goes

...naa yede tummedai sannidhe cheraga...

s.janaki . chiranjeevi . s.p.balasubrahmanyam . suhasini mani ratnam . ilaiyaraaja

truly,

stars on earth

external push

2011-02-18T12:20:00.006-06:00

Sit inside a car. Try pushing it. You cannot. You are a part of the system.

Get out of the car. Now try pushing it. You can, albeit a little.

Is this why people living in far off lands feel they can bring about a change, however little, to their home lands?

Do they feel empowered by stepping out of the state?

judgmental errors

2011-02-11T16:25:00.006-06:00

For the lemons it throws, if my life were a reality show, I wouldn't want Farah Khan, Sajid Khan and Anu Malik for judges.

I want to marry her

2011-02-03T18:02:00.009-06:00

Allah!

Thayya Thayya

2011-01-27T13:18:00.003-06:00

yak bondy . tejpal kaur . a.r.rahman . gulzar . farah khan . santosh sivan . shekhar kapur . ram gopal varma

This is such a well crafted reworking of an original that hasn't ceased to bring the child out in me.

Sound & Picture

Heck! nothing, not my awe, admiration, nothing has changed since August 1998.

the pursuit of happyness

2011-01-26T12:28:00.019-06:00

Here's a little exercise for you. While you are here, or away, ask yourself a simple question. Yes, a simple question. Why do we do what we do. It could be anything.

Why do I like an olive green shirt? Why does there have to be peace in the world? Why should there be no wars? Why should I attain my current degree? Why should I keep my parents in good state? Why should biochemists/biologists look for a cure for cancer? Why should Hollywood churn out good movies? Why should I go for long drives? Why should I read the Bible or the Quran? Why should the Microsoft stocks be high? Why Govinda's movies? Why should I publish more papers? Why do I want them in high impact factor journals? Why should I renounce Islam and follow Hinduism? What do I gain if the politicians that rule my country are not incorrupt? Why should I vote? Why do I want festivals? Why should I endorse atheism? Why should I click a tack sharp photograph? How does it matter if Sachin Tendulkar is bigger than Brian Lara, scores 100 international centuries, or is conferred Bharat Ratna? Why do you gossip? Why do I want to be the way I am? Why don't I want to be the way I am?

I agree, the questions I mentioned are way too simplistic and generic to be taken seriously. But when you do this exercise ask yourself any profound question and possibly, one more question that follows the previous one logically. May be if not after one question, or the one follows that, or the one that follows that, or the one follows that. That is to say, along this chain of questions, you will know the answer if not in the first two-three links of the chain.

Like

Why should there be green/electric cars?
For environmental safety and assorted reasons.

Why should there be no pollution?
What rubbish!, for our health and for future generations' sake.

Why should the future generations be happy and what do *you* gain from it?

So on and so forth.

I want to be educated and rich.
Why?
It empowers me. I can spread my knowledge, feed the poor, among other things.
And?
I can give education to four needy ones.
Then? What happens when you see them prosper?

This virtually applies to any series of questions and any endeavor. Isn't the reason we do what we do (in a very obvious direct way, or a mind challengingly indirect way), our pursuits of happyness.

We all want to be happy. The root of anything. Some form or the other.

Then why do we indulge in so much shit?

Then why is it that we make our lives so complicated in between?!

Unidimensional

2011-01-11T11:42:00.005-06:00

"If it's humanly possible, I would fuck 3D films."

A friend in response to poorly processed, overdone 3D films that Hollywood has been inflicting us of late.

"Go ahead, you'd get a lot of depth."

Question Hour

2010-12-28T08:54:00.003-06:00

Should one critique/analyze things for what they are?

Or should one critique/analyze things for what they should have been/for what they are not/for what they should have aspired to be?

I think in the first scenario, we are limited by the options and the ensuing excellence, or the lack thereof. Easy life, job done, chapter closed!

But in the latter case, what is not can throw infinitesimal variables. Unfair!

Books . music . art . cinema . system . life .

people

Jee Jaan Se

2010-11-13T22:15:00.002-06:00

Take a bow Suresh Wadkar and his Ajivasan Music Academy.

wow! simply wow! What would have otherwise been skipped by me has become, courtesy Bharath Ravulapati, the anthem of the year (no pun intended). What a fantastic, sexy tune and a far more brilliant use of male chorus! Clean, energetic, powerful, zestful, neat singing. Choral singing, male variety at that, for me, is usually energetic, functional in conveying the right emotion but musically speaking the variations, the riffs get lost in the crowd.

Not this one!

musical journey

2010-11-03T17:35:00.002-05:00

Have you ever taken a route, different than the usual, to your work place just to be able to listen to a track on your car stereo?

On your way back home, have you driven a little more to be able to finish listening to a song on your car stereo?

Have you ever wished you weren't put up very close to your work place just so you enjoyed a few niceties of life?

Stowedaway

2010-10-25T22:56:00.001-05:00

Sony Walkman (1979 - 2010) finally ends his long musical stroll.

gosh! nostalgia.

floydian quip

2010-09-29T12:34:00.011-05:00

"Ve(e)ra, what has become of you?"

Roger Waters on madras talkies' Raavan (2010)

Dus Saal Baad

2010-09-10T21:06:00.007-05:00

There are no more movies in the pipeline that I particularly look forward to watching. I consider it the end of my significant decade (2000-2010) of Indian cinema. Time and again these pit stops have helped me recharge myself along this journey.

Lagaan (2001) because both Aamir Khan in 1999 and Bhuvan in 1893 had balls.

Monsoon Wedding (2001) because sometimes micro emotions handled and mounted on a tight scale with chutzpah could pack in more punch than broadstrokes on bigger canvas.

Maqbool (2003) because very few tug at your heart, massage your mind and sock you in your solar plexus.

Company (2002) because any cooler would cause frostbite.

Kannathil Muthamittal (2002) because it was a modern treatise in organic chemistry, fluid mechanics, kinetics and dynamics.

Ab Tak Chhappan (2004) because... je ne sais quoi

Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003) because it was heavy cinema with just the right light moments. Jab We Met (2007) because it was light cinema with just the right heavy moments.

Athadu (2005) because it showed what water-tight screenplays could potentially do.

Pithamagan (2003) because for everything it stood for, for packing in two superstars and have them do what they do in this longshot from 5.12 through 5.15

Omkara (2006) because it was the near cinematic equivalent of being in a ring opposite Muhammed Ali and Mike Tyson.

Swades (2004) because I'd have loved to live Mohan Bhargava's life and I cannot pluck out hand pumps from the earth.

Lage Raho Munnabhai (2006) because it was a Gandhian way of showing finger to the super cynical world yet come unscathed. You know which finger.

Dil Chahta Hai (2001) Nothing. I rest my case.

flickr of hope

2010-09-07T10:11:00.004-05:00

At last I seem to have found a good online photo management/sharing tool. I had been reluctant to endorse it for quite a while now. I'd have wished for flickr to have better navigation, and a generally better user interface. Picasa does a neat job here.

But what cheers me up is the picture quality with minimal compression, and a fantastic sync feature with my iPhoto. I prefer not publishing my photos to having their shoddy versions clogging my precious bandwidth. Now, I'd even pay to upgrade to the pro features. Picasa, understandably, does a bad job here.

rubric cube

2010-09-02T15:16:00.002-05:00

.........................do birds like to lighten themselves, repeatedly, on red cars?....................

PS: I had no idea this would be an antithesis to my previous post. Not intentional.

food for thought

2010-08-01T13:27:00.002-05:00

........................................... do nice people make nice food?........................................

........................................... I I............I ask again!

the women in my life

2010-06-30T12:44:00.004-05:00

under construction.

Das Capital!

2010-06-17T15:58:00.006-05:00

under construction

god of small things

2010-05-23T01:10:00.003-05:00

Perhaps no other gods from the Indian mythology evoke and stand for so much piety, purity, niceness, goodness as do Lord Srirama and Seetha. You have, among the so called thirty three crore gods, someone typify some characteristic. At least going by how we have been programmed so far. But none like Rama and Seetha to elicit some smile, some positivity, some feel good factor. Is this the reason why "Seetha Rama" was the leitmotif of almost every creation of this man's that has touched my heart?

Perhaps seemingly pious words and thoughts needed seemingly pious gods to be invoked by a seemingly pious man, Veturi Sundararama Murthy!

Now when ennui sets on gods as they go about their chores of creation, they will have company to keep. Of a peer, no less.

Rest In Peace, Veturi!

bina umeed ke

2010-05-14T11:21:00.006-05:00

So recently Scotty's owner posed a question in return as to how I had (if I had) changed over years. I held myself back then.

For good or bad I have remained the same. gulp! In fact, I did mention that I find it silly/naive when someone notices, "oh! you haven't changed at all." But yes, my ideas though haven't seen much of a drift, the quantum of my beliefs has increased.

I'd like to think that a bit of clarity has set in. I have never questioned motives, intentions, actions, principles, beliefs and the like. I just took them for what they are/were. Now there has only been a surge in that feeling. I still take things for what they are. I try real hard, and I think I am fairly successful at not being weighed down by any sort of dogmas. There is no single way to go about in life, there is no right or wrong. I might not agree with what you say, what you do but then I will still sport a smile and offer you a hug. Sometimes I find it hard to understand a few actions. But the nice person in me immediately brings me back to my senses. I accommodate. I don't make a big deal about it. I smile. I move on. I have never ever argued about subjective matters. I still don't. I try to listen. In fact there is a dirty curiosity to know what people feel about something I feel strongly about. I want people to talk. When prodded, I offer my stance. Then I shut up. I only and only extend it with people who I have agreed to disagree with respectfully. I am lucky to have found a few people who make it happen. I have always been thankful. I am grateful to god. I try to make all this look seamless. I try. I have always lived my life on various levels. (I think almost everyone does, and just that some are aware) When I switch levels and how I do it, I don't know. I still do that. I think one lifetime is just not enough. I am no celebrity or a star but yes, I am in a race with myself. I want to take all that life has to offer. Good, bad, ugly. I just hope I am strong enough to take things as they are. I don't take anything for granted. Touchwood, never will I. That stops growth. I have always liked things to be organic. I still like it that way. Just that I can express it better now. Sometimes I fail. But make no mistake, it's in my head. I like to keep all my senses open. That, I think, is the right way to enjoy life. This might not have reflected in my actions so far. But I don't care. I know what's going on in my head.

Expectations is a big bitch. I have come to realize the fewer they are, the happier one is. Happiness is very very very personal. It is tough to accept this. When there are so many scales out there.

I believe in the grand design. From the time the first bacteria cast its print on this earth till the last entity that will walk this planet, every single action, every single process, every single phenomenon, every single event of every single organism is intertwined/pre-determined in a direct or indirect way. Sometimes this is obvious. Sometimes it is so mindfuckingly mind boggling that our mere brains cannot comprehend it. Things are the way they are and the way they were meant to be. There is no alternative. There is no second way. It had to be this way. Whether you or I like it or not, agree to or not. It doesn't matter. That's why I believe there is no place for "if" in life. "If you had selected Harbhajan Singh, our team wouldn't have lost the game." "If you had started much earlier, you wouldn't have met with the accident." It is utterly foolish to think that things happen in isolation. Or that you can effect changes in isolation. For that to happen one would have had to freeze all people in their motions or actions. That is not possible. The success of an event is dependent on a million things. Sometimes they are apparent and visible. Funnily, most of the times they are not. In the latter scenario, god forbid if we achieve success, we are fooled into thinking that a single person or a small group can take credit for that. It is not that way. Wait a second! at least I think so.

In a huge huge circle called Life, we have confined ourselves to a minuscule dot. We call it life. Funny. We are concerned with birth, education, security, jobs, fashion, love, stock markets, perceptions, images, premises, governments, beliefs, religion, politics, ration cards, rising fuel costs, PhDs, recession, depression, expectations, tornadoes, right wing, left wing, liberals, fundamental, fundamentalism, Obama, reforms, strategy, plans, live-for-the moment, Mallika Sherawat's breasts, MBA, Sachin Tendulkar's willow, MacBooks, originality, Anu Malik, travel, mysteries, marriage, wedding, philosophies, shopping, lampshades, lemonades and what not. All this is important. Particularly, MacBooks. But I think there is much much more. Not within this dot. In the huge circle I talked about.

I will continue.

............I hope I haven't disappointed Scotty's owner. Scotty is one lucky bitch, I say.

when the night was moon-lit!

2010-05-11T21:19:00.005-05:00

Oh! better, truer, more nuanced words were never said.

"...I frankly dont want to be an atheist... I dont want to be a believer, I dont want to preach and I dont want to be preached to, I want to be practical, and yet I want to believe in something supernatural, governing us all just so that I do not get lost in my practicality..."

Am I in total love with the last line?

...................................the title of this post is pregnant with such soul! I like this.

iDont

2010-04-15T11:33:00.004-05:00

see myself taking to an iPhone as much as I would to a, say, a MacBook (I'd pay to possess one!) or an iPad (I take gifts!). In fact I have come to accept everything Apple throws at me and no, I am not a fanboy as yet. There's a place for all, you see! :)

Apple's sense of design and aesthetics is in perfect agreement with mine; their design philosophy, simplicity, clutter-free environment, brilliant fonts, neat layouts, user-friendliness-taken-to-an-extreme level, cartons and packaging, right down to the costumes the models wear, and the voice-overs in their TV and print ads. Heck, I even have all the iPod cases, bought till date, lined up in my drawing room!

I know I am just touching the surface and not going deep. I will live with it.

So it is quite surprising that the iPhone has failed to impress me till date. Yes, it has all the cool apps and the works, things look seamless but it has never enthused me enough to buy one. Why? I guess it boils down to the form factor. It's been like this from my India days where I'd prefer a plain vanilla Nokia to those bizarre attention seekers. I like my phones short, smart, simple and of the right thickness. Neither very thin like a wafer, nor very long like a pencil box.

and when I hold it in my hand it should feel just right.

Just like that perfect, huggable, nubile and petite beauty. :)

Revisiting the Restless Waves

2010-04-13T23:57:00.007-05:00

a decade of a charming piece of work that hasn't ceased to elicit an immediate smile.

..........................................................................memories! :)

.....................................................................Madras Talkies'

....................................................................A l a i p a y u t h e y

......................................................................april 14th, 2000

Slap Clap Crap Trap

2010-04-08T11:52:00.004-05:00

For the tolerant fool I am, and I am super proud of that, I find Sreesanth's record on field a little worrying. Ten or fifteen years from now, when he will have hung up his boots, I don't want Sreesanth to be remembered for his theatrics or jigs on the field. I'd love him to be recalled for his rhythmic action that too for an Indian pacer, his aggro at play, and yes, his contribution to the team with his wickets at crucial times. But the judgmental public that we Indians are, all his good work will be relegated to the background.

That will be a tragedy.

With two super back-to-back double hundreds under his belt against the visiting England in '93, Vinod Kambli should know what that means.

of stubborn exits

2010-03-27T23:29:00.004-05:00

This afternoon, amidst all the maddening activity my head is a host to, I did something I have always envied my father for. His books and priceless collection of HMV gems have been his best buddies on Saturday & Sunday afternoons. With no soul around, I was by my bedroom window, let a brilliant sunshine which was begging to cut through the blinds come across, lowered the blinds, lied down on my bed staring at the imaginary skies above making a total mockery of the roof above. For the moment I had the luxury to forget everything. After all I was being pampered by the melody and agony of Farida Khanum on Aaj Jaane Ki Zidd Na Karo. This was bliss.

B G M

2010-03-03T19:54:00.003-06:00

If my life were a movie, I'd love it be to played to the following pieces for BGM.

noor e khuda

2010-03-02T13:50:00.004-06:00

bird's eye view of the Drill field, gentle breeze cutting through, the stars and stripes fluttering in joy against a grey cloudy sky, Adnan Sami's muddled bass acting perfect foil to Shankar Mahadevan's impeccable treble on my Sony Studio Monitors, Shreya Ghoshal joining the party!!!

..................................Ya Allah! Utha Le

a fine comment

2010-03-02T13:06:00.002-06:00

I'd have never thought that a comment I left on someone's post, and very rarely do posts get me to do that, would be, well, my post.

I believe that if you are a nice human being, you need not create a good piece of art, write a good book, sing a nice song well, make a nice movie. Well, you get the drift.

But if you have made a nice piece of art, written a good book, sung a nice song well, made a nice movie, you have to be a nice human being.

strike of the pun'gent

2010-02-24T10:51:00.007-06:00

.................................................curse of the apple

we are all just prisoners here of our own device

bees saal baad

2010-02-17T16:36:00.006-06:00

Apparently there was this piece written by Harsha Bhogle, a greenhorn then, talking about one Sachin Tendulkar, very well a greenhorn then. This appeared in Sportsworld, a magazine that I used to consider a poor man's Sportstar (of course not literally). Whenever I couldn't lay my hands on a Sportstar, I would grudgingly settle for a Sportsworld. But that tale is for another day.

In this article, written in his trademark simple yet weighty style, Harsha Bhogle delineates the early story of a man, whose principles we would cynically dismiss as those belonging to Aesop's Fables. In italics are a few select Bhogle's words followed by a reflection of the current situation. What can one not do armed with an arrogant hindsight?

And for all the publicity he has received, Sachin Tendulkar is really still a kid... And is very shy. Opening out only after you have coaxed him for some time.
Oh! really?

His record is awesome. He has scored far more runs than all of us scored looking dreamily out of the window in a boring Social Studies class when we were his age.

:) :)

Quite often, he is playing all day; important because it has helped him build the stamina to play long innings. "I don't get tired," he says, referring to them. "If you practise every day, you get used to it."

Madras'99 ........... Bristol'99

Wasn't he thrilled at being invited to the Ranji nets? "Definitely. After playing there I got a lot of confidence."

thrilled?! invited?! Ranji nets?! (with all respect to the Ranji Trophy)

The question that arises then, given all the publicity is: Just how good is Sachin Tendulkar?

For an honest reflection ask Henry Olonga, Shoaib Akhtar, or better, Shane Warne.

Luckily for Sachin, there is a calming influence over him, just so he doesn't get carried away by this acclaim.

There are a few things in life utterly immune.

Achrekar, in fact, is quite upset about the publicity Sachin is getting. "People don't realise that he is just 15. They keep calling him for some felicitation or the other. The other day he was asked to inaugurate a children's library. This is ridiculous. These things are bound to go to his head. He will start thinking he has achieved everything. I hope all this stops so he can concentrate and work hard."

Promise kept, chinta karu naka, Achrekar Sir!

In how many cities would a 15-year-old be presented a Gunn and Moore by the Indian captain?

GM signage be damned, after him, in fact, it has become an honor for a batsman to share the letters M.R.F on their English willows with him. Brian Lara and Steve Waugh would concur.

This is really just the beginning and I will be watching this little star with avid interest for the next three years. He is in the right company. And the right environment. The next few years will show whether he has it in him the mental toughness to overcome the over-exposure. If it does not go to his head, surely there is a great future beckoning.

No comments.

and the best for the last.

Isn't there a lot of pressure on him now? Everyone assumes he will get a big score? "Only in the beginning. Till I get set. Once I get set, I don't think of anything."

ha ha ha, little did one expect Harsha Bhogle to be some soothsayer from another world we didn't know of, prophesying something which has only changed recently, a little bit.

The Fruit of Eden

2010-02-16T07:32:00.002-06:00

cometh the hour, cometh the man

my unsung hero, V V S Laxman

return of the pun'gent

2010-02-11T19:17:00.002-06:00

Dravidian beauty of State College, PA

Penn Azhagi

of comatose elements

2010-02-04T23:06:00.003-06:00

It was time to head back home after a near grueling day at work.

Music, particularly Indian film music for me, lends itself to various interpretations and recollections in a different light (no pun intended) at different time points, moods, frames of mind and milieus. More often than not, top notch US roads do help.

This time it was So Gaya Yeh Jahaan (N Chandra's Tezaab 1988).

Alka Yagnik's chubby voice dipped in milk, and honey helped Madhuri Dixit pine; Shabbir Kumar's vocal chords seemed as if they were perennially stretched to the limit allowing gusts of air to go in, go out, go in, go out (imagine Alif Laila, Alif Laila, Alif Laila) helping Anil Kapoor reminisce; Laxmikant-Pyarelal, taking a detour from their heavy duty arrangements deeply rooted in India and Indianness, brought in a delightful rock star orchestration with a nice backup vocal chorus .

Of course, the star of the song, Nitin Mukhesh. I can only imagine a wood pecker at work going about what it does best when I think of the nasal Nitin Mukhesh on this track. Man, Chunkey Pandey couldn't have asked for more!

Could I be ported back to my naive '80s?

Kissa KJo Ka

2010-02-01T19:43:00.005-06:00

Rare hopping across Twitter eventually led me to one of the more refreshing one-on-ones in recent times. Now there are interviews and then there are interviews. If you are unlucky you could chance upon utterly stifling, choking, diabetes inducing interviews that are dipped in the caramel of diplomacy. If you find my words cheesy, then you had better brace yourselves to the interviews I am talking about.

Now, ever since that monster called Kuch Kuch Hota Hai took the shine away in 1998 from Satya and Dil Se, two gems that I have held close to my heart, I have had problems with his cinema. Cinema mind you, not the person, which is what it should be. Slowly but surely his stature grew, and slowly but surely my hatred for his offerings travelled northwards. Nothing could stop him, it seemed, so much so that he and his cinema became a reference point and his brand worthy enough to be derided. We are dealing with India here.

But with time, I realized that here was a man who was comfortable in his skin, totally unapologetic about that, in a right way. While we winced, he seemed to maintain his composure and cool even when his orientation, sexuality which is no Tom, Dick and Harish's business, was tossed up and made an object of national debate and fodder for gossip mills by every Tom's Dick and Harish. He believed in his cinema, knew where his inspiration came from, knew who his idols were, made no bones about the fact that he craved being lapped up by the hoi polloi of Bihar as well as the hoity toity of Birmingham. Whether we took to his tales or not, whether we admired his craft or the lack thereof, his steel was respect worthy. Time and again he acknowledged his cinematic limitations, acknowledged what he could offer, and he could not be what others were. This is all when he needn't have! The TIMESNOW interview where he owns up to his follies, his supposed lack of vision or the ability to take risks makes you respect him a little bit more. You admire his honesty where he mentions there are far better filmmakers than him, whose work he cannot even dream to emulate. Isn't this coming out clean, when there is absolutely no need (keeping in mind your self-respect), heartwarming? Doesn't this make for good television at least from the standpoints of the interview, the interviewer, and the interviewee? Isn't it good when he dodges all those scathing barbs with a smile, unflustered stripping the interviewer of his pants confining all dirty linen to laundries or bedrooms? Doesn't this make it less synthetic, less plastic? Doesn't this make you purge out all that frustration has been bottled up courtesy other celebrities' pseudo-diplomacy, pseudo-chivalry on air into a sigh of relief?

Bring them on more. Whether we like it or not. So what if the honesty seems to be a little selective, so what if this is a pre-recorded programme.

For possessing balls apparently made of pure stainless steel, whether or not I take to or talk of your cinema, Karan Johar, respect!

Rare hopping across Twitter did eventually lead me to one of the more refreshing one-on-ones in recent times.

nothing is left

2010-01-17T10:13:00.001-06:00

Jyoti Basu

1 9 1 4 - 2 0 1 0

badal rahein hain hum yahaan

2009-12-11T16:56:00.006-06:00

Few commercial symbols of modern India evoke such emotions and feel good factor as Doordarshan, Rasna, Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan, and Bajaj. When their swankier, sleeker successors (satellite TV, energy drinks, Zee Horror Show, and Honda) came around, we took figurative showers to wash off all the dirty thoughts. How could we break the allegiances? Yet we grudgingly but surely moved on. These symbols didn't change, and they did what they had to in their own unpretentious way. They never gave us the dirty stares for cheating on them, there was some kind of a motherly loving smile on their faces almost as if saying "it's OK, you have to move on."

We moved on and yet in our near-perfect, super consumerist, comfortable lives when we chance upon the news of such a nostalgic gem going to its grave, we are reminded that yes, the party cannot go on for long.

Bajaj Auto has decided to discontinue its scooter production.

hamara bajaj ab nahi rahega

His Master's Voice

2009-11-19T22:16:00.007-06:00

This and this should act as primers to how they feed off of each other.

I edited this clip from a longer video. I feel this is a treat to watch at least from our Telugu standpoint. For us Kamal was synonymous with SPB when it came to voice apart from other stuff.

Watch this video. For me the scary part plays from 1.32 through 2.01.

In the Wi.Si.Ni.Ty

2009-11-12T12:04:00.011-06:00

1) He is unshaven, wears (an Abercrombie & Fitch/Aeropostale/Hollister/American Eagle) with the logos splashes all across in bold, is pursuing an MS, is a hardcore cynic/skeptic, cannot tolerate/appreciate a fellow's success/talent, will use every tool in his kitty to belittle/deride/pull someone down verbally and has a rice-filled plate. Every academic degree he bags ups his rate in the matrimonial market. He is very helpful, resourceful but, be warned, all this is at the cost of your self-respect. Even before you have retracted your hand out of a luke warm hand shake, he has had known your surname/region/sub-region/group and other such social tags. He could put court judges to shame. He is very well known for objective thinking, excels at it. He is not found in design schools, mass communication classes, economics schools, sociology/history/psychology schools, cutting-edge research labs. He has great respect for art; pure, commercial cinema, that is. He, ironically, has utter contempt for art cinema; anything for the brain and not below the waist is waste, "art cinema." Theatre/Photography/Crafts are for the jobless. If you find someone extremely articulate with a great sense of attire voicing out his opinion on life and the bigger picture and not relaying a general consensus on public fora on national TV, make no mistake it is not him. If he is into research, rest assured, he is sure of the results/goal. He shall never take the uncharted territory. He never ever fails. He is never ever allowed to fail. He cannot fail. He has never ever heard of dignity of labor. He believes in and propagates a caste system/hierarchy in degrees/professions. He has known your salary even before you run through your offer letter. He doesn't intellectualize stuff much, is usually fun to hang out with, is very social with a fantastic network and is never aloof. He can virtually get any job done in the market. Simple, straightforward. He is actually a confused soul looking to stitch together the pieces of his framework that actually is his identity but mercilessly trampled by the rest of the sheep. Accordingly, has one idol in cricket, a choice no one will dispute, and one idol in movies, a choice no one will dispute. Owing to his objectivity/fact-filled-database, you cannot win an argument with him. Education is very important for him, degrees I mean. That gives him respect and a standing in the society. He values success a lot and admires, respects, likes to hang around with the successful. He can justify all phenomena/acts/theories in hindsight/retrospect. His sentences end in itself/only; "yesterday only, yesterday itself."

2) He is outwardly simple in attire, unkempt/unshaven but different from #1, is bespectacled, looks like a geek, may be one, argues/can argue, debate/can debate till the dawn of the doomsday, connects everything to Dawkins/Rabindro Sangeet/Sen. (Amartya, not Sushmita!!) He goes weak at knees at the sight of a sweet or a Sweety. If you find someone extremely articulate with a great sense of attire voicing out his opinion on various aspects of life and the bigger picture and not relaying a general consensus on public fora on national TV, make no mistake, it is him. More often than not, "liberal" is his middle name. He has great respect for music/literature/fine arts in all forms. Theatre, Drama, Quizzing and Debating feature in his keywords list. For him cinema is Ray, Fellini, Ghatak, Godard, Kieslowski, Kurosawa, Bergman, Majidi, Gopalakrishnan and Kashyap. He can relate to infidelity, and your other orientations. The rebellious streak in him could take him to the level of being capable of changing the face of humanity. No jokes. Only if he decides to. Owing to his subjective thinking, and the god given ability to go on a complete tangent, you cannot win an argument with him. If you have friends at at NID, MICA, TISS, DSE, XLRI he/she could belong to #2. If someone has the knack of getting on to your nervous system, it is him, it is him, it is him.

3) He is a cynic first, rest everything follows. His cynicism/skepticism beats that of #1 hollow. He is a professor or into research at IISc., NCBS, JNCASR, and TIFR. He is usually on panels, committees along with #2 at business schools. He is usually silent but can get very vocal when agitated. He is extremely articulate and awes you with his subjective talk but should the situation demand it, can put #1 to shame with his objectivity. He has great respect for music/literature/fine arts in all forms. Theatre, Drama, Quizzing feature in his keywords list. He has a good eye for the visual. He will not talk to you further, if your first five/six sentences don't match up to his standards. With him, you cannot/shall not bullshit.

4) He is a thinker/engineer/economist/editor/systems engineer/US Senator/a left-arm orthodox spinner who has worked for Oracle/MRF/Indian Express/Hindustan Lever in the past. He is a well opinionated blogger, can wax eloquent on anything under the sun but don't expect him to bail you out of the soup you are in. You should have read the manual/rule book/encyclopedia/dictionary. He is not afraid, doesn't care for what society thinks of him, and can make time/space for his Vishnu Sahasranamam on his $20 million trip to the moon. No jokes.

5) He is different from the rest of his neighbors in every sense. Barring a geographical proximity, he shares nothing with his neighbors. In fact, he could lay claim to be living in a separate country. The older/aged version could be a high court judge, a high flying cabinet secretary, an RBI Governor, an ex-death metal band member. The younger version, if he is into rock music and is in Bombay, is without a doubt with a goatee/chin beard on his face below which is a Metallica tee with a loose-fit denim. He is 2X compared to #2 in rebellion. He will question anything and everything. He has an affinity for black, will wear black to weddings, preferably a fabindia, takes up fashionable causes and has a novel/book to his name. Dare not face him with coached/tutored answers or facts, as in the #1, he will cut you apart into pieces. If you have friends at St. Stephen's, St. Xavier's, Presidency he/she could belong to #5. Usually he has a sardonic smile on his face, and that says everything. After all he is god's child. The mothers in this land are quite unlike the mothers elsewhere.

6) He likes his city's climate; in fact all good things in his city are a function of the salubrious climate. He believes in amassing every tool that will lead to a comfortable life. He leads a very perfect, all-taken-care of kind of life. His father subscribes to either a The Hindu or an Indian Express. He doesn't mind that as long as he gets his share of the The Times of India. He has a bike to commute to his engineering college, lands a "good, respectable job" in the one of those "good, respectable companies," builds that perfect house on a 30 X 40 or a 60 X 40 plot, gets hold of a good "respectable car." He loves his morning breakfast, cannot wait for his evening snack; weekends are dedicated to visiting his other pieces of land and of course eating out, and doesn't mind eating out what he has eaten/eats at home. The cycle continues. He is usually not very controversial and is like a potato in a curry. He adds to the census.

7) He is the one you want to scared of/careful about. He is the proverbial no-nonsense variety. He is friendly but only after you are subjected to several rounds of his mental worthiness screenings. He will smile at you, and laugh with you only if he trusts you, or knows you. Otherwise if you are his geographical/polar opposite you are actually a fly/bug he so wants to crush to death. He loves an occasional Dosa (not pronounced "Dhosa," the way you usually and correctly do) and Saambhar (not the "Saambaar," you are used to) in a posh restaurant. He will not mind an oily puri for his breakfast and then bread-jam-butter tho hai hi. God has given fingers for something else you retards and not for eating food. He cannot think of eating if there is no metal tool in sight. He has to rip apart his staple food with both his hands even if that is as delicate as your (*insert your choice of expression*). He has to make tiny chunks of that bread, fold those chunks into edible bites with both his hands in a manner that resembles a Hyderabadi pan wallah. I am not kidding. Okay there exists an alternative. One hand holds the gravy-filled spoon at an angle to the plate, the other hand gently slides the bread to the spoon, lifts the gravy and the rest is obvious. Usually his plate has one dry curry, one gravy-based counterpart, two-three breads, one watery dal and an occasional slice of an onion/cucumber/tomato. Okay, I forgot, a cup of rice with a regret. He doesn't mind working elsewhere but will religiously, over the weekend, head straight to the nearest theatre playing an achhi picture by Karan Johar/Aditya Chopra/Yash Chopra, and round it off with a garmagaram Parantha. (Not parotta/parota, you dimwits). Like his father who has worked for BHEL, TATA, Reliance, Hero Cycles, NTPC, OIL, GAIL, SAIL, Govt. of India he also believes in a conventional, respectable line of work with a nice degree next to his name, preferably an aM.B.A not an eM.B.A. Since he is not like avryb'dy (everybody, for the retards), he will want to go to IIT first. If, Vaishnodevi forbid, he doesn't make it to an IIT, he will wash off the sins by appearing for CAT but not until having worked for an achhi company elsewhere for 2-3 years. Okay, again, if he doesn't think like avryb'dy, he will "sit for" a civil services exam to get into a respectable IAS and swears by travelling in a Rajdhani, or a Shatabdi. He doesn't believe in plurals. All car that we saw were good. His gods start and end with Krishn, Ramji. Who are Raghavendra Swami, Alamelu and Aandaal??!??

Can & Able

2009-11-11T13:34:00.002-06:00

,please note, never occur* together.

Their namesakes never did in Archer's world.

*rampant in the southern parts of India

the return of the pungent

2009-11-09T21:08:00.008-06:00

...............................The.Norwegian parliament sets a new president

.......................................................................................................2009 Nobel Peace Prize

Take a bow, Archer

2009-11-09T11:26:00.007-06:00

Times of India: You are an ardent cricket fan. With the advent of Twenty20, many cricketers have questioned the viability of Test cricket. Comment.

Jeffrey Archer: Twenty20 has nothing to do with cricket. Cricket is a test match, where V V S Laxman and Rahul Dravid are facing the Australians in an impossible position, and a day later they win the match. That’s cricket.

how I derived the Paa theme music ringtone

2009-11-05T16:04:00.013-06:00

This post might reek of "show off." Stay away if you have no stomach for it.

tools required:

Internet Explorer (not my choice of browser but works in this case, I am not sure of the RealPlayer add on for other browsers)
RealPlayer v. 11 (helps download any .flv video including the YouTube ones)
Switch Sound File Converter (a freeware)
Windows Movie Maker (ships as a default)
Apple iTunes (optional; for high quality AAC)

learning curve: minimal

time taken: ~3 minutes

I opened the webpage on Internet Explorer.
I clicked the "my videos" section. A small video started playing.
On the top right hand corner of the player, a small RealPlayer feature prompted me to download this video.
I downloaded the video in its .flv format.
I relocated the video from the RealPlayer library to the desktop for easy access.
I opened the Switch Sound File Converter, added this .flv video, and converted it to an .mp3 file
I opened the Windows Movie Maker, imported the .mp3 file, dragged it to the audio timeline. It is important for the beginning of the file to coincide with the beginning of the timeline.
I played the audio file, made sure what the start and the end points of my desired ringtone would be. I did not care for any dialogue part.
I clipped the beginning sequence (that occurs before the start point) and the tail sequence (that occurs after the end point).
I played the left over clip. This was the raw file I wanted.
I dragged the clip to "zero" of the audio timeline.
I published the clip as an audio file. It was saved in its default .wma format.
I opened the Switch Sound File Converter, added the .wma file and converted it to a .mp3 file (230KB).
I added this .mp3 file to the Apple iTunes software, and created an AAC version. The file was now saved in a .mp4 format (326KB).
I transferred the .mp3 file to my cellphone via Bluetooth.

..........I had the new Paa-violins-theme music ringtone I so craved.

PS: Leave your email ID and I could mail it! I promise. Hit by a sudden bout of altruism :)

paartly sonny

2009-11-04T09:04:00.005-06:00

Will Balki-IR-PC bring back the good times, the southern I mean, of the '80s?

test'icular strength,

2009-11-03T15:22:00.003-06:00

V V S Laxman has in loads for him to be mouthing these lines in this era.

It's been a long time since you've played, but can you see any circumstances where you could make a return to the Indian ODI team?
No, not at all. I'm focusing totally now on Test-match cricket, and I think the Indian team is moving forward where there are a lot of youngsters who have come up and done well in the one-day format, and that's the way to progress.

Do you see that you seem to be the exception that proves the rule at the moment, where several players have given up Test cricket to concentrate on ODI cricket, whereas you've gone the other way?
For me, representing the country is a great moment and I would give up anything to represent my country. Test-match cricket is really special to me because as a kid I always dreamt of playing for India in Test matches. I take a lot of pride in representing the country and always will do.

interview courtesy: Greg Lansdowne, Big Hitter; ESPN cricinfo

title courtesy: Naseeruddin Shah

one shepherd takes away another

2009-10-29T11:21:00.006-05:00

How many non-playing gentlemen, with their endearing superstitions, on the field can make broadcast producers/cameramen aim their cameras at you?

He, for me, was one of the few blokes who added color, and a dash of romance to cricket. He was in the league of Dickie Bird, Srinivasa Venkataraghavan, Merv Hughes, Curtley Ambrose, Jonty Rhodes when it came to combining excellence with a persona to match; take away any of these, or of their ilk, cricket would just remain an exercise in statistics, records, numbers, and boring , staid gentlemanliness.

For all he has done in making watching cricket a pleasurable exercise with his authority, and own quirks, the most noticeable being the famous "double jig" at every Nelson in cricket, he deserves rest now.

........................................................Rest In Peace, David Shepherd

Medley Melody

2009-10-20T16:29:00.008-05:00

The coming together of a supremely talented yet scoffed at music director/producer/composer, a promising lyricist with no star wattage as yet (apparently armed with a Ph.D in Hindi), a director who one could sue for not having lived up to all his promises produces a gem that in my book could collapse under its own weight and features a truly outstanding male chorus padding up one of the most musically/vocally challenged yet popular singers of the times; to be redeemed later for our good health by a crooner whose unplugged version is a masterclass in playback singing.

........................................................Tu Jaane Na

...................................................................................Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani (2009)

strings-on-skin has never disappointed me; quite easily one of the better tracks in a long long time.

credits: Pritam Chakraborty, Irshad Kamil, Rajkumar Santoshi, Atif Aslam, and Kailash Kher

Moonlighting

2009-10-15T12:22:00.003-05:00

akashe jyotsna

moonlight in the sky

phuler pathe chita baagher gayer karam

on the forest trail the scent of the leopard

hridoy amar horin jano

my heart is like deer

ratrer ei niraboder bhetor, kondike cholechi?

in the silence of this night, which way am I going?

rupali paatar chaya amar shorire

the silvery shadow of leaves on my body

kothao kono horin neyi

no more deer anywhere

aar joto door jaayee, kaashter moton banka chaand

as far as I go I see the moon bent like a sickle

shesh shonale horin, shorsho khete niyeche jano

cutting the last golden deer-grain

taar par dhire dhire dube jaache

then sinking slowly

shata shata mrigedaar choker ghumer andhokaarer bhetor

into the darkness of all the sleep In the eyes of a hundred does

...................................................... ..............Jibonanda Dass

I would like to go to my grave with this.

dedicated to Lakshmi Narayanan

Go Ruminate!

2009-10-01T20:20:00.003-05:00

gr'apple with jobs' loss

2009-09-12T20:49:00.006-05:00

So Anijo Mathew called on us early this week and over good food, and more good food we started to chat up about life in general, architecture in general, design in general, conferences in general, technology in general, and while at that, Apple in general.

It was September and until Anijo reminded me of it, I forgot it was September. September is when Apple comes up with its babies that send the United States and the rest of the world into a frenzy, no matter how unjustified it seems to the ones who don't care.

I said, "Oh shit! I hope he doesn't come up with something thinner than a MacBook Air this time!"

Anijo replied, "Nah! it is just nanos with video feature this time around."

Anijo hadn't seen this one for sure!

I didn't know I would be alluding, albeit ignorantly, to Steve Jobs himself.

The super thin MacBook Airs can now go take a leak!

Ford Escort

2009-09-11T16:26:00.003-05:00

It is really nice to see the in-the-ICU-still-on-ventilator US auto giant endorsing a federal ban on banning texting while driving. Engaging in any activity that takes away your attention from the road is ban-worthy, and why all states, despite the necessity, didn't ban that long ago is really a no-brainer. This isn't to say that I support hands-free, Bluetooth technology for speaking while driving. But while speaking at least doesn't require one to take one's eyes away from the traffic, texting that demands more attention, ignoring the freaks and geeks, could be far more fatal. As a person who has witnessed the stupid acts of girls and boys here while driving, I simply do not understand why states would not budge from their careless stance until they were threatened to be pulled away federal highway funds from!

apostrophe catastrophe

2009-09-11T14:13:00.003-05:00

I have been enduring it for years now, in fact more than a decade, but it doesn't seem to wane one bit. It was O.K when I saw school kids do it, when I was one, but it is a pain to see supposedly accomplished people commit it.

Just why the hell can't people not think of apostrophe at all when they mean to pluralize nouns? For the period I have been noticing it for now, I hope it doesn't become one cultural and linguistic phenomenon like the SMS language I have to get used to. Call me outdated and senile, I can take it. You cannot convince me mentioning the flexible and dynamic requirement of language.

I do not want to reconcile to it.

It suck's (sic)

zoom baraabar zoom

2009-09-04T01:29:00.005-05:00

I feel the success of any writer, professor, storyteller, lecturer, policymaker, I will include lawyer and doctor in that, depends on how much the person can zoom in to the detail, and pull out when necessary. Pulling out or zooming out at the time appropriate is very essential because no matter how heavenly detail is, and I deify detail, it wouldn't make sense unless it is viewed in the purview of the bigger picture. You cannot be too subtle for you run the risk of being ignored by the less discerning (and the less discerning make the majority), yet you have to come out clean, unscathed by the accusations of insulting the collective intelligence of your potential audience. It is the right balance of how much to elaborate, and how much to leave it to be deciphered between the lines that defines the followership (ergo, success) of any person in any type of profession I have mentioned.

Names Dropped

2009-08-29T12:16:00.019-05:00

Let me see how these lists mature. Will they age well?

Best Songs Shot in Slo-Mo

"O Saathi Re" (Tassaduq Hussain, Kumar Mangat, Vishal Bhardwaj, Omkara 2006)
"Sundari Kannaal Oru Saedhi" (Santosh Sivan, G.Venkateswaran, Mani Ratnam Thalapathy 1991)
"Pehla Nasha" (Najeeb Khan, Nasir Hussain, Mansoor Khan Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar 1992)

Best Scenes on Steadicam

"Nagarjuna Akkineni and niece chase" (S. Gopal Reddy, Venkat Akkineni, Ram Gopal Varma Shiva 1989)
"Bombay cops' clean up" (Gerard Hooper-Mazhar Kamran, Bharat Shah, Ram Gopal Varma Satya 1998)
"Imtiaz Ghavate chase" (Natarajan "Nutty" Subramaniam, Arindam Mitra, Anurag Kashyap Black Friday 2007)
"O Saaya-cops chase slum kids" (Anthony Dod Mantle, Christian Colson, Danny Boyle Slumdog Millionaire 2008)

Best Depiction of Hospitals, Railway Stations, Places of Worship, People in Uniform/Power

Vishal Bhardwaj (assorted)
Mani Ratnam (assorted)
Farhan Akhtar (assorted)

Best Depiction of Women

Ashutosh Gowariker (assorted)
Mani Ratnam (assorted)
Farhan Akhtar (assorted)

Best Costume Design

Loveleen Bains and Arjun Bhasin (Declan Quinn, Caroline Baron, Mira Nair Monsoon Wedding 2001)
Anaita Shroff Adajania (Jehangir Chowdhury, assorted, Homi Adajania Being Cyrus 2005)
Arjun Bhasin (Ravi K Chandran, Pravin Talreja-Javed Akhtar-Ritesh Sidhwani Dil Chahta Hai 2001)
Chaitanya Rao (Ravi K Chandran, G. Srinivasan-Mani Ratnam, Mani Ratnam Kannathil Muthamittal 2002)
Dolly Ahluwalia (Tassaduq Hussain, Kumar Mangat, Vishal Bhardwaj, Omkara 2006) Bhanu Athaiyya (Mahesh Aney, Ronnie Screwvala-Ashutosh Gowariker, A.R.Rahman, Ashutosh Gowariker Swades 2004)

Best Production Design

Sameer Chanda (Santosh Sivan, G. Srinivasan-Mani Ratnam, Mani Ratnam Iruvar 1997)
Sabu Cyril (Ravi K Chandran, G. Srinivasan-Mani Ratnam, Mani Ratnam Kannathil Muthamittal 2002)
Nitin Desai (Tassaduq Hussain, Kumar Mangat, Vishal Bhardwaj, Omkara 2006)
Suzanne Caplan Merwanji (Ravi K Chandran, Pravin Talreja-Javed Akhtar-Ritesh Sidhwani Dil Chahta Hai 2001)
Sabu Cyril (Ravi K Chandran, G.Srinivasan-Mani Ratnam, A.R.Rahman, Mani Ratnam Ayutha Ezhuthu/Yuva 2004)

Best Hair Design

Osh Bhabani and Adhuna Bhabani (Jehangir Chowdhury, assorted, Homi Adajania Being Cyrus 2005)
Avan Contractor and Adhuna Bhabani Akhtar (Ravi K Chandran, Pravin Talreja-Javed Akhtar-Ritesh Sidhwani Farhan Akhtar Dil Chahta Hai 2001)
Madras Talkies (Ravi K Chandran, G. Srinivasan-Mani Ratnam, Mani Ratnam Kannathil Muthamittal 2002)

Best Title Design/Music

Dil Se (Santosh Sivan, Shekhar Kapur-Ram Gopal Varma-Mani Ratnam, A.R.Rahman, Mani Ratnam 1998)
Guru (Rajeev Menon, G. Srinivasan-Mani Ratnam, A.R.Rahman, Mani Ratnam 2007)
Rang De Basanti (Binod Pradhan, Ronnie Screwvala-Rakeysh Mehra, A.R.Rahman, Rakeysh Mehra 2006)
Dil Chahta Hai (Ravi K Chandran, Pravin Talreja-Javed Akhtar-Ritesh Sidhwani, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Farhan Akhtar 2001)
Swades (Mahesh Aney, Ronnie Screwvala-Ashutosh Gowariker, A.R.Rahman, Ashutosh Gowariker 2004)

Best Original Movie Theme

Soul of Jungle/Racing the Jungle (Sandeep Chowta, Jungle 2000)
Aayo Re (A.R.Rahman, Swades 2004)
Latika's Theme (A.R.Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire 2008)
Dil Chahta Hai (Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Dil Chahta Hai 2001)
Bombay Theme (A.R.Rahman, Bombay 1995)

Best Action Choreography

Vikram Dharma (Ravi K Chandran, G. Srinivasan-Mani Ratnam, Mani Ratnam Kannathil Muthamittal 2002)
Amin Ghani (Vijay Arora, Bharat Shah, Ram Gopal Varma Jungle 2000)
Shyam Kaushal (Anthony Dod Mantle, Christian Colson, Danny Boyle Slumdog Millionaire 2008)

Best Lyrics

"Radha Kaise Na Jale" (Javed Akhtar, Anil Mehta, Aamir Khan-Jhamu Sughand, A.R. Rahman, Ashutosh Gowariker Lagaan 2001)
"Kaminey" (Gulzar, Tassaduq Hussain, Ronnie Screwvala, Vishal Bhardwaj, Vishal Bhardwaj Kaminey 2009)
"Do Kadam Aur Sahi" ( Javed Akhtar, Santosh Sivan, Reima Husain, A.R.Rahman, M.F. Hussain Meenaxi 2004)
"Beedi Jalailey" (Gulzar, Tassaduq Hussain, Kumar Mangat, Vishal Bhardwaj, Vishal Bhardwaj, Omkara 2006)
"Lukka Chuppi, Ru-Ba-Ru" (Prasoon Joshi, Binod Pradhan, Ronnie Screwvala-Rakeysh Mehra, A.R.Rahman, Rakeysh Mehra Rang De Basanti 2006)

Best Train Scenes

"Killing of Indore Singh" (Tassaduq Hussain, Kumar Mangat, Vishal Bhardwaj, Vishal Bhardwaj, Omkara 2006)
"Duniya Ki Sabse Chhoti Prem Kahaani" (Santosh Sivan, Shekhar Kapur-Ram Gopal Varma-Mani Ratnam, Mani Ratnam Dil Se 1998)
"Chaiyya Chaiyya" (Santosh Sivan, Shekhar Kapur-Ram Gopal Varma-Mani Ratnam, Mani Ratnam Dil Se 1998)
"Train Robbery" (P.C. Sreeram, G.Srinivasan-Mani Ratnam, Mani Ratnam Thiruda Thiruda 1993)
"Pre-climax and Climax" (S. Gopal Reddy, K.L.Narayana-S. Gopal Reddy, Ram Gopal Varma Kshana Kshanam 1991)

Best Screenplay

Sarfarosh (Vikas Sivaraman, John Mathew Matthan, Jatin Lalit, John Mathew Matthan 1999)
Satya (Gerard Hooper-Mazhar Kamran, Bharat Shah, Ram Gopal Varma 1998)
Alaipayuthey (P.C.Sreeram, G.Srinivasan-Mani Ratnam, A.R.Rahman, Mani Ratnam 2000)
Rang De Basanti (Binod Pradhan, Ronnie Screwvala-Rakeysh Mehra, A.R.Rahman, Rakeysh Mehra 2006)
Ayutha Ezhuthu/Yuva (Ravi K Chandran, G.Srinivasan-Mani Ratnam, A.R.Rahman, Mani Ratnam 2004)

Best Production Houses

Yash Chopra-Aditya Chopra (Yash Raj Films)
Ronnie Screwvala-Deven Khote-Zarine Mehta (UTV)
Ritesh Sidhwani-Farhan Akhtar (Excel Entertainment)
G. Srinivasan-Mani Ratnam (Madras Talkies)
Ashutosh Gowariker (AGPPL) Aamir Khan (Aamir Khan Productions)

Best Background Music Score

Ilaiyaraja (S. Gopal Reddy, Venkat Akkineni, Ram Gopal Varma Shiva 1989)
A.R.Rahman (Santosh Sivan, Shekhar Kapur-Ram Gopal Varma-Mani Ratnam, Mani Ratnam Dil Se 1998)
Shantanu Moitra (Natarajan "Nutty" Subramaniam, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Vidhu Vinod Chopra Ekalavya 2007)
Sandeep Chowta (Gerard Hooper-Mazhar Kamran, Bharat Shah, Ram Gopal Varma Satya 1998)
A.R.Rahman (Mahesh Aney, Ronnie Screwvala-Ashutosh Gowariker, A.R.Rahman, Ashutosh Gowariker Swades 2004)

Best Short Films

Blood Brothers (Vishal Bhardwaj, Mira Nair 2007)
Positive (Farhan Akhtar, Mira Nair 2007)
Prarambha (Santosh Sivan, Mira Nair 2007)

Best Directorial Debuts

Nikhil Advani (Anil Mehta, Yash Johar-Karan Johar, Nikhil Advani Kal Ho Naa Ho 2003)
Farhan Akhtar (Ravi K Chandran, Pravin Talreja-Javed Akhtar-Ritesh Sidhwani Dil Chahta Hai 2001)
Farah Khan (Manikandan, Shahrukh Khan-Gauri Khan, Farah Khan Main Hoon Na 2004)

Best Music Director-Singers

Himeish Reshammiya (assorted)
Shankar Mahadevan (assorted)
A.R.Rahman (assorted)

Best Movies - Coolness Factor

Ab Tak Chhappan (Vishal Sinha, Ram Gopal Varma, Shimit Amin 2004)
Company (Hemant Chaturvedi, Ashwini Dutt-Boney Kapoor, Ram Gopal Varma 2002)
Hyderabad Blues (Madhu Ambat/Vijay Kumar, Nagesh Kukunoor, Nagesh Kukunoor 1998)
Maqbool (Hemant Chaturvedi, Bobby Bedi, Vishal Bhardwaj 2003)
Swades (Mahesh Aney, Ronnie Screwvala-Ashutosh Gowariker, Ashutosh Gowariker 2004)

Best Punch-in-the-Solar-Plexus Movies

Shiva (S. Gopal Reddy, Venkat Akkineni, Ram Gopal Varma Shiva 1989)
A Wednesday (Fuwad Khan, Ronnie Screwvala, Neeraj Pandey 2008)
Ab Tak Chhappan (Vishal Sinha, Ram Gopal Varma, Shimit Amin 2004)

Best Original Tracks - Coolness Factor

"Bol Na Halke Halke" (Ayananka Bose, Yash Chopra-Aditya Chopra, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Shaad Ali Jhoom Barabar Jhoom 2007)
"Ya Rabba" (Piyush Shah, Mukesh Talreja, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Nikhil Advani Salaam-E-Ishq 2007)
"Ek Lau" (Alphonse Roy, Ronnie Screwvala, Amit Trivedi Aamir 2008)
"Tanhayee" (Ravi K Chandran, Pravin Talreja-Javed Akhtar-Ritesh Sidhwani, Farhan Akhtar Dil Chahta Hai 2001)

Landmark Movies

Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa (Virendra Saini, Vikram Mehrotra, Jatin-Lalit, Kundan Shah 1993)
Lagaan (Anil Mehta, Aamir Khan-Jhamu Sughand, A.R. Rahman, Ashutosh Gowariker 2001)
Satya (Gerard Hooper-Mazhar Kamran, Bharat Shah, Vishal Bhardwaj, Ram Gopal Varma 1998)
Kuruthhipunal/Drohi (P.C.Sreeram, Charu Haasan-Kamal Haasan, Mahesh, P.C.Sreeram 1995)
Thevar Magan (P.C.Sreeram, Kamal Haasan, Ilaiyaraja, Bharathan 1992)
Kal Ho Naa Ho (Anil Mehta, Yash Johar-Karan Johar, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Nikhil Advani 2003)
Dil Chahta Hai (Ravi K Chandran, Pravin Talreja-Javed Akhtar-Ritesh Sidhwani, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Farhan Akhtar 2001)
Lage Raho Munnabhai (C.K.Muraleedharan, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Shantanu Moitra, Rajkumar Hirani 2006)
Rang De Basanti (Binod Pradhan, Ronnie Screwvala-Rakeysh Mehra, A.R.Rahman, Rakeysh Mehra 2006)
Sarfarosh (Vikas Sivaraman, John Mathew Matthan, Jatin Lalit, John Mathew Matthan 1999)

moon moon seen

2009-08-11T16:30:00.005-05:00

Alright, if I could get past that initial glob of cheese, I could safely declare that I fulfilled a childhood dream of mine last week courtesy a conference away from home. Apart from the wonderful opportunities it threw, and what I gained, it also let me meet up with Lakshman, one of my close buddies here in the US.

He had a 1996 Celestron on him gifted by his professor! We enthusiastically brought it out in the front yard and voila, he was up there in all his complete, full glory. After some initial hiccups in the form of poor focus, and excess light, what we saw was truly mesmerising.

He was literally trapped and reduced to a heavenly sphere of bright white. Ah, his craters were meant to be seen, something I had only heard of while in school. It felt almost as if we were mocking and making fun of his celestial status. Thank god, I didn't behave behave like one gawk in a topless bar. We wanted to capture this glimpse for posterity but the set up we had couldn't support camera connectivity, too bad. But what is heartwarming is that the current Meades and Celestrons can be rigged to a camera, or better, a dSLR :)

My fascination dates back to those days in the 90s when I would walk/cycle past the India Hobby Centre, Hyderabad. Those guys stocked apart from everything else, some cool telescopes for amateurs. It was tempting but it was expensive too. But S.P.Road never seemed more relevant to me, with I.H.C at one end and Sangeet at the other. The amount of reading I did on astronomy, and the follow up I practised made my one of my uncles wonder if I would earn my bread from this. But that is a story for another day.

I don't know how many times I have dragged total acquaintances to B.M. Birla Science Centre, Adarsh Nagar, and I swear I haven't kept a count. That was truly some place.

I know I am one big lazy goose but if I can combine two of the biggest fascinations of my life, photography and sky gazing, into a single entity and derive immense pleasure from it what more could I ask for! Pleasure that simply cannot be put in words. Suits lazy bums like me.

maaki kirkiri

dreams galore

2009-08-09T14:10:00.005-05:00

All of us dream, and for that we needn't be dreamers which is used in a sort of pejorative sense. I have noticed most of us do remember and recall our year old dreams that are of no significance actually. But we still do, and that says something. Upon racking my brains, may be these would be my dream leitmotifs.

1) I am flying high in the air and almost when I am about to hit the roof I go plummeting in an instant glide, then out of fear of hitting the electric wires, I go up again.

2) I am on this huge huge elevator(lift) that is of the size of an entire floor. I step onto it in the last moment and then it goes down, a scary scary free falling lift. Remember, it is of the size of an entire floor.

3) I am on a platform and running hard to catch a fast moving train never to hop onto it.

The sheer regularity of these amazes me.

Golden Lotus

2009-08-05T11:58:00.014-05:00

For sometime now I have been harboring a character sketch in my mind, of course for now painted only in superficial strokes. The finality, and consequently with it, the actual beauty, would ironically surface, only when I go deep. But for now here are the broad strokes.

He is a synonym for Genius in all lexicons. He is an iconoclast. He is a giver. He is selfless. He is enigmatic. He is everyday. He is sublime. He is beyond compare. He is charismatic. He is solo. He is among the crowd. He is a geek. He speaks Greek. He is a luddite. He is a techno guru. He is a charmer. He is royal. He is loyal. He is a rebel. He is an erudite. He speaks simple. He speaks hard. He is a free bird. He is an Archer. When he rises, people around him rise.

He is a vegetarian.

He is at ease with Carnatic Classical, as much as he is with Jazz or Hindustani Classical. He can quote The Vedas and P G Wodehouse with the same elan with he can shake a leg to a Hyderabadi teenmar. He can hold forth on M.S.Subbulakshmi, French porn, Clive Lloyd, Mohammed Azharuddin, and Sicilian defense in chess and you will be craving more. His cartoon features are to die for, and you don't mind skipping your morning coffee to his creations. He is a Marriott man and yet his heart truly longs for the early morning street cart food. The letters that he writes could put the SMS kids to shame. His handwriting can make Nizam pearls squirm.

He is an erstwhile I.A.S officer, highly adorned diplomat who has tried and truly tried and given up on the system. He has moved on to better, bigger, larger, deeper aspects of his existence he is so proud of. He is a family man, very devoted at that and yet he is aloof. He is a visiting professor, and yet a student, to put it clichedly, of life. He is a nomad. He is mad.

Upon being broached the women in his life maintain a dignified, respectful silence about him smacking of pure love. Their pupils dilate.

At times he has his hair pulled back to a pony. He wears plain kurtas with The North Face jackets. Yes. The soles would take Quovadis sandals and Timberland boots. It is only Levi's 501 for him. His backpack and his glares are respectively Jansport (black) and Ray-Ban only. He rides either an Enfield Bullet or a Yamaha RD-350. He has a Parker/MontBlanc for a weapon. He is a Nehruvian Bandhgala man. His radio is a Bose. When he sports a white half sleeved shirt angels almost drool. He is a Raymonds man. Yet he does all this with such elegance and class of a different order that it all seems so inadvertent, and not thought of. He doesn't care.

His thoughts and commensurate actions and not him put wannabes and pseudos in their place. He shows why men are men and where kids belong.

He looks somewhat like this. God sure lies in detail. He is detail.

Meet my Ali

From 4 to 54, for all you have done in these 50 glorious years, many thanks Kamal Haasan.

motley madness

2009-07-12T16:09:00.006-05:00

"a week too late but the spirit is permanent"

Current Contraceptive

2009-07-11T09:03:00.002-05:00

In all probability he was jesting, but then his portfolio (health ministry) and the fact that Ghulam Nabi Azad was speaking at a conference with apparent serious intentions make me doubt my own assumptions.

If there is electricity in every village then people will watch TV till late night and then fall asleep. They won't get a chance to produce children. When there is no electricity there is nothing else to do but produce babies.

Damn, I could do with some cut in my monthly bills.

Nah, he was still probably jesting.

fake identity or identity crisis or surreal identity?

2009-07-09T15:48:00.007-05:00

........

. ....... jiska bhi chehra cheela, andar se aur nikla
.........masoom sa kabootar naacha toh mor* nikla

* peacock

Kambakkht Gulzar, Kambakkht Vishal

2009-07-09T11:49:00.009-05:00

They read my mind, and then they judged.

poetically, and sardonically!

..............................................Meri aarzoo kaminee
..............................................Mere khwaab bhi kaminey
..............................................Ek dil se dosti thi
..............................................Yeh huzoor bhi kaminey

Bucket List

2009-07-07T13:42:00.009-05:00

Talking of going to my grave happy, I'd sport at least a smile if I were to learn/make/achieve/attain/fulfil or if

a significant piece of work in the United Nations Organization

pen something as simple and as elegant as Javed Akhtar's Radha Kaise Na Jale away from all metres and verbosity

my PhD thesis contributes a little more to us humans, albeit in a small way, than just remaining confined to libraries

one stringed instrument; Santoor, Mandolin, or well, a Guitar

come at least close to knowing why we were here

contribute personally and directly to at least one child's growth/primary education

a management degree from ISB, Hyderabad

one picture with my D60 that will remain immortal

one composition that will move people to tears

one epiphanous journey to a far away place that proves all the life before was one truly fucked up dream

Tamizh, or Urdu, or French

watch Wimbledon finals in London, live, with my sister Usha

one small video that will be my slice of eternity

fly

2009-07-07T10:53:00.004-05:00

An incorrigibly and horribly romantic that I am, I often look back in time particularly the phase I grew up in, the '80s. All those idyllic thoughts that I associate with the '80s come to the fore, some culled from personal experiences, some media and cinema, and some imagination. Where it is perfectly possible to blend your personal objectives with something that you cannot shy away from, responsibilities. Where sunny Sunday afternoons are sunny Sunday afternoons, where sartorial sense doesn't have to be in an Abercrombie & Fitch or an Aeropostale but also in the simple elegance and class of a homely kurta, where an event or an occasion is bigger than the tools that contribute to it.

My naive self also comes to the fore and I conveniently begin to wonder if it is possible to lead a normal, relaxed, honest to oneself, simple, serene life. It makes me crave a life (I know the word "life" has complex connotations) at my pace, in no race with nobody to achieve that invisible and intangible nothing, satisfy myself, respect all the enormity that nature has to offer, honor minimal societal requirements and really try being true to myself. Where communication with people is very organic, very harmonious sans any ulterior motive quite unlike the restless, matter-of-factly, objective banter characteristic of the times I inhabit. Even if it is the order of the day, I want the blend to be so seamless that it leaves you in awe, or ideally go unnoticed. Where success is not how the society qualifies and quantifies your achievements but is what it means to your personally. As much I respect the comforts and conveniences that modern science and engineering have to offer, I do not want to be ensnared and enslaved by materialism. When I cry "materialism" it extends way beyond the usual physical and tangible entities. I do not want these tools to complete me, and if it did, that would be a personal disaster. I want to lessen the dependency on the social circuses called social networks to feel "in" at the risk of being termed, well, a social outcaste. I so want to move away from these social, cultural, technological phenomena that come oh so periodically and stare you in your face daring you not to ride the wave. For a firm believer in predetermined design, or destiny, may be I shouldn't be cribbing for probably this is the way it is/was meant to be. Yet I will try. At least I will go to my grave happy.

Andy, Slammed Grand

2009-07-05T13:52:00.004-05:00

Or is it

Roddick Rogered?!

Anyway, Federer! Take a bow.

Alliterative Imtiaz!

2009-06-27T09:38:00.012-05:00

"... ghatni hi thi yeh bhi ghatna, ghat'the ghat'the lo yeh ghat gayi..."

Alluding to destiny in these lines, this groovy, funky, lively, catchy Imtiaz Ali/Pritam Chakraborty number with a slight touch of South Indian rhythm ("taane tandane") is a breeze, moreso with Sunidhi Chauhan's amazing vocals on her introductory lines, very lively strings pervading throughout.

...................................Chor Bazaari Love Aaj Kal (2009)

Star Bucking trend

2009-06-18T23:53:00.000-05:00

No, I am not declaring my love for the bean beverage here. When we grew up watching English movies in Sangeet theatre, Hyderabad, as an impressionable kid I placed the stars in some distant la la land, if not a better land (in hindsight). English movies in Sangeet theatre, Hyderabad almost always translated into Hollywood fare. Minimal exposure, minimal knowledge almost fought with each other for the top spots among many barriers that separated us from the stars. The stars that delightfully adorned the silver screen when the lights were dimmed. These barriers worked only fine as the stars remained where they should and the cinematic orgies where they should, and it only made the concept of looking-forward-to more enjoyable.

So when movie channels started airing "making-of" videos in the mid to late 90s, cinema, in a small way,was slowly but surely ripped of its sheen. Everything was laid bare and naked, to its minimum and darn, nothing was left to imagination. It made a good fodder for the cynics who smugly declared "ah, we said so." A Batman of the early 90s was so different from its recent sibling, The Dark Knight of '08 which many reckon has been the best to have happened to man since sliced bread. Why? Apart from every other aspect, the recent installment has been one people have had most access to, and everything that has to be known has already been damning the very notion of mystery, and damning the idea that stars should remain where they are.

Cut to present and on a slightly different note, this place looks so Indianized, at least to levels that are perceptible, that nothing is a fantasy land anymore. You name a place here, and even before you spell its name, an Indian restaurant would have opened somewhere, or someone would have clicked a snap in front of New York Stock Exchange, or Golden Gate Bridge. May be the overfamiliarity with this place; the system, the pattern, the roads, the exits is the spoilsport. So I shudder at the thought of bumping into a Hanks or a Depp the next time I drive out of that swanky eat-out in downtown L.A., find a Carrey when I turn my head sideways in anticipation of a green light at a traffic island or worse, a Jolie on that famililar trip to Memphis! No exaggeration, I wouldn't want to be caught dead discussing pappu, pulusu, licking my fingers to glory all the while having Spielberg in the vicinity, if not the next table on my next visit to California.

Somewhere you start wondering if this is the same place that lodged the stars that adorned the silver screen when the lights were dimmed in Sangeet theatre, Hyderabad.

an apple of one's eye,

2009-06-18T12:16:00.000-05:00

is sore to another!

(Readers' discretion advised; Unsuitable for minors, and couth, may contain North Indian familial expletives)

What do you call an Apple's version of an Apple fanboy?

Mac-ka-lal

What do you call a Microsoft's version of an Apple fanboy?

Mac-ka-lowda

david littered, man!

2009-06-16T08:17:00.000-05:00

Always knew, realized, and acknowledged that a joke is always at someone else's expense, and the line that demarcates a good joke from its ugly sibling is very nebulous. Unsuspecting, young ones should never be made a butt of your inanities when they are not ripe enough to fathom the mischief, no matter how supposedly innocuous it is. But it's a shame when a celebrity who has been on air for good three decades forgets his elementary geometry about circles and lines.

social circus

2009-06-09T13:24:00.000-05:00

If orkut seemed like a big, showy, never-ending, maddening, stifling jamboree open to all with everything on display, facebook resembles an after-event, after-madness, "by-invitation-only" private party; holding its own mystique, its own little secrets a far cry from the far-from-truth deception of the main event.

As yet, at least.

Saraswati Putra, Bhala!

2009-06-05T11:34:00.000-05:00

It is foolish to expect an industry that feeds on stereotype for breakfast, that chokes when it runs out of cliche cylinders, to treat playback singing, its critical entity, any different.

So when you want

zesty, feisty quality in your life, you have Sunidhi Chauhan.

faux sexy wailing, haazir hai Kunal Ganjawalla

the male, higher-higher-pitched version of Sunidhi Chauhan with added diamond-like quality that just cuts through... Krishna Kumar Menon (KK)

a star like quality that will put galaxies to shame, take Sonu Nigam

sincerity, energy, honesty, so what if RAW, please meet A R Rahman

to communicate pathos, sincerity, again so what if RAW, make way for Ilayaraja

saccharine sweet to the point of inducing diabetes, there is always Chitra

someone to traverse the spectrum from an infant to a girl all the way to a woman, welcome S. Janaki

someone to traverse the spectrum from an infant to a girl all the way to a woman, north of Vindhyas, welcome Asha Bhonsle

invoke Gods, mountains, call only Anuradha Paudwal

devotional, call Anuradha Paudwal and Gulshan Kumar

divine, Lata Mangeshkar

saucy, sassy, cheeky, chicken-tikka masala, croaky & froggy, irreverent, arrogant (so what if it makes you want donate truck loads of lozenges), don't do anything; just close your eyes, and pronto! Anu Malik

to revisit the all the good things of your childhood, say "Sadhna Sargam"

fun, frolic added to romantic numbers, go to Mahalaxmi Iyer

somebody, when you find none, think of Alka Yagnik

to touch a chord of the masses faster than the speed of light, send an SMS to Himesh Reshammiya

to insult your enemies, love guilt pleasures, R. P. Patnaik door nahin

to "hear" a smile, please call Udit Narayan

to test the speaker quality of your avante-garde music set up, particularly Bass, head straight to Amitabh Bachchan

to drink without getting drunk, pesh hai Hariharan

to be literally jolted of blues, slumber, so what if transient, go to Sukhwinder Singh

seriousness, sincerity, character go to Kavita Krishnamurthy nee Subramaniam

to learn Malayalam through Hindi, go down south to Yesudas.

to feel good about yourself, about everything around, C/O Rekha Bhardwaj & Vishal Bhardwaj

most of the qualities mentioned above, dial 9823156147/ 9842351706 to reach Shankar Mahadevan

because for all the above and everything else there is an

S P Balasubrahmanyam

(May he live longer than is destined to)

in camera

2009-06-04T16:58:00.000-05:00

Do me a favor, promise me you will. Okay? If no, you may skip this. Yes?! OK, now read on. Remember I shall hold you to your word.

1) Next time when you click a good looking snap, please don't touch it, retouch it, touch it up, Photoshop it. Don't let the moment get eclipsed by tech tools. I know to each his own but still try! Remember you promised!

2) It gets a little serious here. Promise me if you come across a very beautiful picture clicked by someone, you will not, repeat after me, you will not ask the photographer, "what camera is it?" "which model?", "no wonder, it is good!". Okay? Mummy promise. This is applicable even when the picture is not up to your standards. Either way you are insulting the photographer.

bing'o !

2009-05-31T10:56:00.000-05:00

Just yesterday when I finished watching the official preview of the Microsoft search engine Bing, my first thought was "would this make God (also known as Google) look complacent?." Part of this thought process could be credited to my craving status quo in all spheres.

Rafe Needleman echoes the same thought in the last few lines of his gush post, well almost.

Manly Frame

2009-05-27T14:42:00.000-05:00

Mohanlal's Anandan calls on Nasser's Anna Durai at the latter's residence when he is down with fever.

Anandan inquires about Anna's condition, and they exchange pleasantries. Prakash Raj's Tamizhchelvan can now be seen in the frame.

Anna politely rejects Anandan's monetary token to the party at this stage.

"The party doesn't need your money; Reach the common man. Votes will pile up automatically."

Apart from the conceptual brilliance giving us a peep into the characters' psyche, so what if evil and grey, what stands out is the beauty in the framing. Now it is strange that I talk of beauty in a frame where there is not a sight of a single woman. But the beauty that comes out of the mesmerizing whites, the unshakeable blacks, the rich contrasts is beyond words. Particularly in the last frame, filled with nondescript faces of nondescript men barring Lal, the orientation and placement of all the men whether intentional or not is truly outstanding.

When was the last time a picture (full of raw looking men) looked so ethereal almost making mockery of an entire battery of breathtaking women present otherwise in the film; Revathy Menon, Gautami Tadimalla, Madhoo Ranganathan, Aishwarya Rai, and Tabu?

:)

Iruvar (1997)

film grab courtesy: madras talkies

classified!

2009-05-27T09:48:00.000-05:00

As if the existence of stereotypes (make that negative) around us in our societies isn't unfortunate enough, the fact that some communities, groups actually live up to that image is far more worrisome. I remember this was exactly a part of conversation between Lakshmi and I just the other day. It is almost as if the target groups have reconciled to the fact nothing can be done, or rather generations of conditioned thinking cannot be undone, and armed with this worldly knowledge they feel it is their right to behave the way they do, almost. In their not being able to do anything about it, the actions and lifestyles are justified in retrospect. I have not travelled far across this planet, at least not as yet, but I can safely say no society is free from this.

Why does a particular community act super frugal to the point of being stingy? Why does one race listen to only a particular type of music, or endorse a certain clothing fashion? Why does one group have to always act and sound intellectual, almost warranting pseudo-intellectual masturbations? Why is one group always loud mouths while the other is fool infested? When behaviors, attitudes become social tags or ID cards without a word being spoken, you know there is a room for worry. If you take any group/community/entity/strata and I hate to say this, its behavior will not be far from the image it has created, or that has been attributed. 99 out of 100 times. My heart goes out to all those who inspite of being a mole minority are consciously or unconsciously a part of a silent movement to break these stereotypes.

John Cloud in the latest issue of the Time (June 1, 2009) addresses a slightly related topic with more insight and well, cushions it with some research findings.

The following piece of work is credited to John Cloud and Time magazine, and I have only scanned the article for the sake of more readership. The copyright is duly acknowledged.

(click on the image for a bigger view)

As for me, I belong to all those demographics to which not-so-friendly qualities are ascribed, and on my part I try to be away from them. As Cloud would have liked it, I have not internalized them! :)

But I am also increasingly forced to believe in the adage that not without a reason do stereotypes exist, and that indeed is a scary thought.

Picture...Perfect

2009-05-22T13:14:00.000-05:00

courtesy: Columbia Pictures, Phedon Papamichael

Will Smith's Christopher Gardner walks out of the firm after being told of his appointment as a new broker. But this moment arrives not until after a series of mind-sickening, confidence-numbing harrowing moments in his life. So this only makes what follows special; the bursts of joy, of the pent up tears.

Gardner with his teary eyed face, erupting in absolute joy in a sea of undulating faces, and with his self worth intact, stands tall

literally and figuratively.

Meet the Gods

2009-05-19T16:02:00.001-05:00

Now contrary to what the scriptures have had us believe, King Raavana has also been acknowledged for better things, credited to be an erudite, and apart from everything else a staunch Siva bhakta.

We have been told Raavana owed it to Lord Siva for his name, for his powers.

Raavana needed Siva. May be history repeats itself.

If the grapevine is to be believed, Santosh Sivan would soon join Madras Talkies' Raavana after the original cinematographer walks out on the team.

No regrets, this shall only be one holy communion. Sure the Gods must be crazy.

:)

Chew this Beatle (sic)

2009-05-19T13:24:00.000-05:00

courtesy: UTV Spotboy

Ronnie sure Screws the rest.

Welcome back Tigmanshu Dhulia.

Dil Se...

Congress Grass or Gross Congress?

2009-05-17T14:30:00.000-05:00

The result of the victorious Indian National Congress?

"Rahul... naam to suna hoga!"

Angles (sic) & Demons (within)

2009-05-17T02:39:00.000-05:00

One of the tracks on my Pod right after a viewing of Ron Howard's latest,

"Do aur do ka jod hameshaa chaar kahaan hota hai
Soch samajh waalon ko thodi naadani de maula"

..................................................................... Jagjit Singh

:)

Political Swearing In Ceremony

2009-05-13T11:42:00.000-05:00

DMK, DMKD, AIADMK, DVK, DTMK, DMC, DMDK, DP, DPK, AIAMK, AIMMK, AK M.G.R DMP, A M.G.R K, ATMK

For you, the ever uninitiated, who thought the above were the choicest of Telugu cuss words, they are political parties in Tamilnadu.