fame

When do you think one has really arrived in a place like India? How do you quantify someone's fame in a country like India? Arundhati Roy and Shashi Tharoor are famous, and so are Hrithik Roshan and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. But are they all on an equal footing? The answer, I reckon, is a big no! Do the needles point to same values on popularity scales in their case? no.


One of my long held ideas is that you are really famous when your photos appear in small time magazines in really small scale towns. You are found at really obscure places like chocolate wrappers of locally made chocolates, you appear on those shiny gaudy plastic sheets that cover various food items. You appear on labels, stickers, you are found on those transparent cheap plastic sheets that wrap that cheap plastic toy gun, or the water game your little one craves in a town mela. You appear as a model for those Z grade beedis and cement brands on those rickety walls in those rickety towns. You appear as generic line diagrams standing for those qualities you are known for in primary school text books. Your picture stands next to the word cricket, consciously or unconsciously, in those text books.

You are famous when the miyas of old Hyderabad decide to honor you by having you adorn their display boards. Where? The ubiquitous bone setting centers.

But you as an entity or a concept have really arrived when the firework companies in Sivakasi decide to have a firecracker preferably of the noise variety named after you. You appear on the cartons that contain "hydrogen/laxmi bombs" or on the display sheets in those "parachute rockets".

e.g. Ghajini Rockets, or Ghajini Bombs.


There, I truly believe, the Roys and the Tharoors don't stand a speck of a chance.

madras digest

TOIng with madras

For the kind of change it apparently wanted to bring about, the The Times of India's entry in Madras is definitely a shocker. In retrospect, one could justify the paper's presence in cities like Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, and of course Bombay. Madras was always thought to be The Hindu's bastion and now with the TOI's entry it remains to be seen what The Hindu's strategy would be. A sign of changing times, may be.

The Times, London makes this note

"...It is read not only as a distant and authoritative voice on national affairs but as an expression of the most liberal - and least provincial - southern attitudes..."

also,

"It might fairly be described as a national voice with a southern accent" :)



Young Turks

If you are to ever capture gobsmackingly gorgeous portrait pictures of little ones, say aged between 3 and 5, look no further than those from Iran, Turkey, Israel. They with their combination of tones, features, textures, innocence of another order take beauty to a different level. Try this if you are close to any. I should know, trust me. God promise.


Seeti of Joy

A Bengali's cry of late (and you wouldn't mind this ;) )

"Joy! Ho"

Kodak Moment

12:15 PM cheri: celebrating Rehman :)

??

12:17 PM me: since 1992!

12:18 PM cheri: :)

correct

I liked that reply


courtesy: Cheri Abraham

Yes, I too liked that Cheri. It was honest, and not "moment-inspired".


PS: Good music or good art in general should motivate you, make you look at, appreciate other facets of life. Oh, there is so much! I shall take a break from this Rahman-Chalisa for a while.

H Sridhar

What does it take for a man of an ilk so mercilessly relegated to background to elicit such warmth, words of highest appreciation, and feeling of gratitude from men who usually hog the limelight? Mere talent doesn't get you that, and that is an understatement.

When do people miss you the most? Is it when they stand to gain from you both materially and otherwise? Is it when you apart from all the things said make their life richer by your mere association?

When was the last time a behind the screen man given such due and on such a scale? How do you judge his work as an end user who would rather be swaying to the tunes and the accompanying lyrics? How do you qualify to be a judge on a reality show where in the TRPs and glamour dictate who it is that should be facing the camera? He is so nice to listen to when he starts off at 3.13 here and my absolute favorite is the period between 3.51 and 4.08! Between 5.18 and 6.12 here.

When was the last time people posted videos saying "Sir, we miss you"? To a sound engineer! here

Labelling Sridhar who has added immense amount of richness to ethereal quality scores a mere Sound Engineer or a Mixing Engineer would be so disrespectful.

Rajeev Menon probably says it the best when he and A R Rahman pay their tributes here and here to a man who I had first heard about a decade ago, and who in his salt & pepper beard and that gracious talk reminds me of some arbit professor from IISc who is always buried in his grants, proposals and publications.

I wish I had known of him more. I wish there were more interviews and more literature available on this erstwhile guitarist and keyboard player.

courtesy: YouTube and various other sources


Probably to the people who were close to him and who have gained so much from him, his absence and the resulting silence roar in dolby.


crystal clear.

a p p a r e n t l y !!!

He has been an inspiration for a long time now. It has been like that for ages, and funnily I have been only conscious about it in recent times. Funny because I always knew it without actually knowing it; who my pillar of support was, who was behind me, beside me at all times. May be it is a right mix of acknowledgment and realization now. Whatever, it is heartening.

For the background he came from, for the milieu he grew up in, for the upbringing he claims he has had, his tastes always reflected a certain amount of class. Probably this was one of those examples of the fact that environment, no matter how influential, cannot take away you from you. Thanks to him for being his true self. His ear for good sound and consequently good music is near legendary in immediate family circles as was his collection of those HMV plastic marvels. The sheer range of books, the company he has kept and still reads is close to boggling. He could and can quote from memory almost verbatim. I will not disrespect him by saying all this ran in the family, the blood being the same. Yes, it was the case but he still was what others were not. The most delightful aspect is how he has kept pace with changing times, tuning himself accordingly showing immense respect to the new wave, and never in the process losing out on his old world self. This balancing act of his was never surprising for the pattern has been the same across all walks of life. How could one person do it with so much dignity, class, maturity, and cool very well respecting his limitations is beyond my comprehension. His pace has been remarkable, at times beating me to the acquisition of many a material aspiration! He was there when Philips offered its best tape recorders; he was there when Dyanora had a small array of color televisions then. When I, sorry we, wanted to migrate to bigger ones he was looking at nothing less than a Panasonic, when all I was looking was for a Philips multi CD-VCD changers. He understood the need for a big screen with the same ease with which he said yes it’s time for a DVD console. Knowing all this my wish is to set up a small media room for him which will let him stock his collection of books and house a near state of the art home theater system.

This is not meant to be a vulgar display of affluence of any kind, but a gentle reminder to myself as to how he read the pulse sans any contempt, and without being a Luddite. All these actually pale before the tremendous amounts of spiritual, emotional, intellectual maturity he has shown. Why am I even comparing! Make no mistake the times he and I have lived in lend themselves to a classic case of generation gap, a wide one at that. But he never made that chasm look wide, all the while retaining his self.


Kudos!


Yet with all this there was a constant desire from my side to know what went on in his mind. How he felt about things I was giving apparent and obvious importance to. What were his two cents on subjects, and matters I held close to my heart? With all the open communication we have practiced, ironically there was that inexplicable gap. Was he feeling burdened? What hid behind those diplomatic veneers? Or simply was he playing roles? What baffled me was how he could encounter all events, phenomena with such a straight cucumber face almost all the time. I could only mull over.


For all he has done for me, given me, taught me I have never been able to return the favor in any form. The sheer magnitude makes me think it’s even futile giving it a thought. However, after much persistence from my side, and due to a modicum of his own interest, he has relented. I will always feel good about myself for having brought about this change. I hope this is a fantastic beginning or rather a restart if he ever had stopped.


Funnily, to see what the future holds for us I have to now delve into his past. He is letting me peep. I hope we take the journey together.


Mistakes be pardoned, typos be overlooked, punctuation be damned.



appa is blogging.

Rx

Very often people rush to the nearest drug store in anticipation of some quick fix solution or some sure cure, before they knock on at the doctors' doors. As often I find myself in a similar situation this act is not without any merit! Now since I am a pharmacist myself, and have had loyal customers come by my store what potions and pills would I serve, offer to pull them away or may be jolt them from their blues?

In the past I have sold Piya Haji Ali (Fiza 2000), Do Kadam Aur Sahi (Meenaxi 2004), Lukka Chuppi (Rang De Basanti 2006), Jaage Hain (Guru 2007), Aye Hairathe'n Aashiqui (Guru 2007), Khwaaja Mere Khwaaja (Jodhaa Akbar 2008).

Now don't take this for a paucity in my store. My store abounds in loads of such drugs in different concentrations and dosages. Every customer who has had come by has gone back happy and has more coming my way with his recommendation. I am happy seeing a smile on their faces. It makes my day. Do Kadam Aur Sahi, I am told, takes most of them to a different world, and they have trouble beating a retreat. I am not surprised! I am bombarded with requests to stock up more like them. Added to this is the frequent request to give them that something which will have them asking for more. The current ones, they feel, have outlived their best by dates.


What do I do? I cannot run the risk of having my stores closed. I have waited, and here it comes. An absolute cracker of a drug carrying no dosage restrictions, suitable for all ages, but best enjoyed by those with years behind them.


What do I call this over-the-counter panacea?


Dil Gira Dafatan (Delhi 6, 2009)



Thrice a day with no meal restrictions.

Pop Quiz Hot Shot

What would a stereotypical Telugu movie director's team be called?

Caste & Screw

ab dilli door nahin

sach mein, AB bilkul nahi!

Dil Se

I am extremely happy for A.R.Rahman on his Golden Globe; irrespective of the veracity of awards in general this is no mean feat.

But I hope he doesn't become inaccessible to the mainstream makers back home who bring out the best in him. A Golden Globe today, and possibly an Academy tomorrow shouldn't take away the child in Rahman.

I hope he doesn't feel burdened or obliged to come up with heavenly, heavy weight music each time only to justify these prestigious awards in retrospect. India is not short on cynics who will pounce on him every time his score fails to attain instant popularity.

I hope he remains true to himself irrespective of any accolades that come his way or otherwise.

I hope he continues to dish out fare with the same child like enthusiasm as ever. As such he is away from the regional film music for a while, these awards shouldn't distance him further from the local breed at least the Tamil directors who supposedly milk him the best. Make no mistake all his regional scores with their immense local flavor have helped him push the envelope gently but surely before acting as the precursors for more dramatic Bollywood fare painted with larger brushes and painted with larger strokes.

I reckon he makes more sense in terms of commerce than some of the so called stars and actors in the fray. The awards and all the hype that follow shouldn't make him more inaccessible, and ergo expensive. Small, intimate cinema needs him as much as the monsters with gargantuan casts.

I hope the cynics who had utter contempt for him earlier do not start quoting these awards to quantify Rahman's genius now, saying we said so, this was expected. He has always been a pleasure, and he himself would be cognizant of the fact that he has churned out better fare before.

I hope people do not grudge this just a jingle maker, machine whiz kid, his well deserved success and fame.

I hope he remains true to himself on course to achieving all his goals, music and otherwise.



That is the true hallmark of a genius.



Insha Allah

a n ikon in the making?

The wait is over.


It is definitely a step forward.


I hope I find a newer me.


She arrives soon.

as good as it gets

Lakshmi and I had been meaning to catch up on a good flick for a while now. Though we had had a few decent outings in the form of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and not so decent in a Valkyrie, we had been longing to check out one in the cozy confines of home on a large screen. It never materialized owing to our hectic schedules and my erratic sleeping patterns.

Until today.

The day started fine; bright, cold yet warm, sunny. After running a few errands, I headed straight to the Mitchell Memorial. Now visits to the Mitchell Memorial have been more for their DVD collection than the academic resources at least for a while. Formalities taken care of, it was home beckoning me. What an organic, fluid, warm start to the day just like the movie that was to follow.

Jack Nicholson at his very charming, charismatic best, shows what good acting of high caliber could do to a seemingly simple script. Everything about him; the mannerisms, the behavior, the act, the costume design was absolutely water tight. It felt as if the director had them measured to the last ounce, and with the needles pointing to the right balance served them on a platter.

The goddess a.k.a Helen Hunt's Carol Connelly just had asking me for more. Women like Helen Hunt make movie watching an absolute pleasure which at times cannot be described to the fullest. Supple, graceful, witty, and vulnerable Helen Hunt is one of those rare movie personalities that make you want to know the person more in real life beyond the characters they get to enact. If I said Jack Nicholson takes the seemingly straight, simple narrative to an altogether different level it is not without the support from Helen Hunt. It happened to me earlier in Balki's Cheeni Kum where going by the chemistry between the lead pair I had naughtily wished for them to be a real life item too. The same happened here as well. The fact that this was repeat viewing never mattered.

Simple, classy, unpretentious, sexy, warm, organic the film and its title, I didn't know, would actually symbolize a perfect Sunday afternoon spent in absolute joy, and calmness after a long time together.


Just like "good times, and noodle salad" of Melvin Udall.

underdog millionaire

Take a bow, A.R.Rahman!

Dus

With the world around me indulging in some kind of retrospective lists it is only incidental that I chanced upon this page.

So this is also looking back; I had heard about it long ago but never got to see it in its entirety. I let the legendary BBC fonts (my favorites for long) on the page distract me, I let the colors take over me but nah! this was a definitive list, so it claimed. A list of songs supposedly culled from the umpteen out there, questioning its actual requirement. I wish I had known the rest of them, I was willing to read, know, and admire.

But then 2, 4 and 9 were just too overwhelming for me to do that.

chinks in the wall?

Rahul's scorecard

	Inns	Runs	Hs	Avg	100	50
Since relinquishing captaincy	34	881	111	28.41	1	5
In the year 2008	26	669	111	27.87	1	4
In last 10 innings	10	195	68	19.50	0	2
In last 5 innings	5	21	11	4.20	0	0

courtesy: Rajneesh Gupta/Rediff




Dravidian fall 2008?

harsha bhoggles

"in my quizzes I only ask the questions and am aware that the participants know more than I do. in fact I think that is true of all quizzes! all I see my job being is that of a pleasant conduit between the person who sets the questions and the person who tries to answer it"

says my man in an interview on some nondescript page, somewhere on the messy web.


Isn't that what all quizzes and quiz masters should be looking to achieve? In an ideal world, I am speaking.

and here is some more

"if people haven’t enjoyed themselves at the end, whether they have won or lost, I think I have lost"

Aaah! precisely that is what I have been trying to drive home ever since my Picket days. I have had harrowing moments convincing my partners right up to my college days as to how important, at least for me, it was to have a ball at quizzes. To have fun, to go up and down the emotional ladder in quizzes. Not to take anything seriously. Not to take yourself seriously. Not to let your ego come in way of immense amount of joy that you could get. Of course it was always fun ending up on the winning side, but when it came to having real fun, winning never ever mattered.


Never.

Engine Failure

I searched for happiness.


Google couldn't help me.

Lifetime Achievement

WOW!

go get a life

redifferent!

Now no matter how gimmicky that sounds, the fact that Rediff.com has exercised some caution, shown immense maturity, and sense of timing, discretion is praiseworthy. This tabloidish portal is known for its inflammatory message boards irrespective of what topic it is. Nothing and just about nothing escapes the sharp tongues of the Indians in these "discussion" forums showing what sort of cynicism has crept into us.

Right now, owing to the terror times in Mumbai, the site has closed all the discussion boards.

Even as I write this, I go back and check. Yes, I am right. It is not a problem with my internet connection and the page has loaded to its full potential.

There are no discussion boards.

Landmark.



P.S: If what I am talking about is to be seen, let the terror go into background, let the Mumbaikars show the famed "resilience", and then let the site be visited.

Dus ka Daud

Making a bucket list of things to do and going about fulfilling, realizing each one of them makes for such a compelling drama. It gets compelling if this list were to be made with sad yet definite knowledge that you are going to breathe your last very soon. You win some, you lose some, you get some, you forget some. After all life is such a bitch.

Yet again Vinay Pathak ratifies my belief and immense trust in actors who excel at comedy, humor. In what could be the finest display of ensemble acting in recent times, Vinay Pathak and his team of actors best known for their television gags take honest, simple acting to a different level. In a show that walks a fine line between wallowing and again honesty, Pathak proves what he could do to a film given a meaty, beefy part. Ranvir Shorey, Saurabh Shukla, Suresh Menon, Rajat Kapoor, Suchitra Pillai, Purvi Joshi, Sarita Joshi, Gaurav Gera in their minuscule yet important parts prove that a lead actor can shine only if the accessorial roles are neatly etched out. Nowhere do you feel the need to sympathize with the Pathak's Amar and you only root for him to get what he aspires for. You wish him a dignified death somewhere content he has lived the few moments he has on him. Few real moments. This movie is good for the relaxed pace in which it lets its protagonist go about settling things running against time.

Any movie that can make Neha Dhupia look normal, act, respond and react naturally has to be good.

Dasvidaniya is a reminder of a movie. Reminder of the unpredictability of life, the shortness of life.

The bitchiness of life.

not so hillaryous

If the babus and the coteries were to have their way, Hillary Clinton might as well be made the Secretary of State. This could throw to the bins the apparent disparity between her and my man when it came to Iraq, and more importantly Iran.

Our lady had warned Iran of an assault if Iran were to bombard Israel with nuclear weapons.
My man wants to sit down for talks with Iran.

Quantum Mechanics

When Fleming, Forster, and Craig decide to take you on a ride as a practical for their class on Physics, Kinetics, Chemistry, Systems you are at the receiving end. For a change, among many those instances, being at the receiving end is a pleasure. You enjoy the ride. You not surprisingly dismiss logic, throw caution and sense to air. You just submit, you just listen, you just see, you just watch. You stop questioning.

When in this silly ride across places, ethnicities, people, colors, races you get is what is termed as paisa vasool, where is the question of solace?!

chaand ka tukda

While it might not mean big to the pioneers, nor it might turn any heads but for the people who are involved in this, it definitely is a moment of inexplicable pride. I perfectly relate to the teams instrumental in this little landmark. The fact that groups (or millions) before you might have done it doesn't or ideally shouldn't take anything away from your success.


Your success is your success.

Whether it is earth shattering, or gives you a reason to be over the moon.

Short Circuited!

Circuit City adds to the list of the behemoths in the US filing for bankruptcy.

Something like this happening to an electronic store chain is shocking. The fact that it might be delisted off the NYSE is no pleasing news either.

There are reports that Circuit City started showing signs of an imminent fall early on, and it is only in retrospect now. Funnily for a company to go through this bad a phase, there were no obvious signs of it when I made a visit last fall for my first Canon. Nothing about the display, nor the environment showed there was something bad. Electronics is something that flies off the shelf with good reviews particularly in the US.

This had to happen in the holiday season? Sad!

Won't be a good Thanksgiving this time.

Fall 2008

In sanity, be damned!!!

"Do aur do ka jod hamesha, chaar kahaan hota hai
soch samajh waalon ko thodi naadani de maula

Chidiyon ko daane bachhon ko gud dhaani de maula
garaj baras pyasi dharti par phir paani de maula"



Nida Fazli / Jagjit Singh

The Secret's Out

I have always liked those supersmart, eagle-eyed, sharp suited Secret Service Agents who ought to protect the President of the United States, among others things to do. They, like their counterparts in New Delhi, the Special Protection Group, mean pure business. Now imagine one of those agents, tall, dark, again sharp suited, with cropped hair, elegant sunglasses on, decides enough is enough and comes to the foreground, and takes centrestage. What do you get?

Barack Hussein Obama

Character Ark

Yet another hero of mine hangs up his boots. I always thought getting into one's boots was tough, but hanging up one's boots?

The former is still tough because this shoe size is big, real big.


God bless you, Anil Radhakrishnan Kumble.

Classic Mild

If the Centre were to go by the linguistic experts' recommendations, Telugu and Kannada will soon be given the classical status. While I am in no position to comment on Kannada apart from it being a crisp, simple, powdery language, easy on ears (I will stop here before the Karnads and Karanths get me!), Telugu has been a way of life for me. Some of the most poetic, pathetic, pristine, and poignant stuff gets expressed through this language. I have been forever proud of being a Telugu, and moreso a Hyderabadi Telugu at that. That is important. Twenty three years of existence in Hyderabad hasn't diluted my respect for Telugu, nor has my Telugu gotten corrupted. I bet I would leave no hints to a place I could belong to going by my Telugu.

The language grew on me, and I have to immensely thank Ramoji Rao's Eenadu for that. My initial exposure to Eenadu gave me such a base that I do not once regret having been sent to a CBSE school. The articles, the style are read to be believed and this held true for a long time. Thanks to Sridhar's Idhi Sangathi, and Gudipudi Srihari for that. Then the parochial attitude the paper smacked of started surfacing. I will not go there for I have to be grateful to Eenadu for all that base I talk of. I am no jingoistic, "culture" shouting language fanatic, yet I have somewhere felt good being a Telugu. You like the language for all the flexibility it offers despite being the ocean that it is. You like the fact that you could think on a global level yet be proud of your roots without experiencing any amount of adjustment issues. I could safely say not many languages do that. I have immensely enjoyed the itsy bitsy knowledge of business Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam (it really gets itsy bitsy itsy bitsy there), and of course Hindi. Ah my liking for Hindi merits a different post altogether. In experiencing, enjoying all these languages I have, like I said, felt absolute joy in the fact I actually belong somewhere.

Let me not get into specifics of language, but I bet for the sheer fact that no other language in the world (apart from Kannada may be) can boast of that godly linguistic exercise called Avadhanam, Telugu wins. Then there is the legendary sweetness on ears, the gentleness, the rhythm, the tempo, the style.

All this love is for the language, and not the Telugu culture at all. All the pride I enjoy in the association with the language gets nullified by the fact I do not, I repeat I do not, belong here at all. It makes me cringe when I even think about it. When you have submitted the language and the culture to those demons called Caste & Telugu cinema, one can't help but squirm. Trust me when I say that! You feel bad that there is no representation on a global level at all. Do not even try point at those ATA, TANA and all that fucking pigshit tandana. For all the resources that this language possesses, any other culture would have been so aggressive in nurturing it, imbibing it, and doing what not. Forget global, there has been no national identity on us. If ever Andhra Pradesh is spoken of it is Hyderabad and its material achievements in recent years that get talked about. Funnily we so lack in an identity that we don't even get mimicked! There are scores of performances where a Gujarati, a Bengali, a Tamilian, a Malayali, a Punjabi gets mimicked, and you get the caricatures in all forms and styles. There has been absolutely no cultural, linguistic identity of ours something that the current generations could identify with, and relate to. Apart from our penchant for high academic degrees, technical jobs that become our identity and our parents could boast of, Telugus don't seem to be doing anything pathbreaking. Bloody we are so conscious of not being the laughing stock by trying something unheard of, and tread in an uncharted territory that all we end up being is a cynical, narrow-minded society. With all this, our so called presence across continents doesn't count at all. How does it matter that there are swarms and hordes of us when we have not done the right thing? It is as if settling in NewJersey, Florida, Virginia, Houston, Dallas, Washington, and California is the be all and end all of all Telugus.

I hate to say this but let not Avakaya, Tollywood Cinema, Pattu Langa, Parikini, Meesam, Rosham, faux pseudo machoism, Caste-false-pride be our calling cards. Blame it on the Puri Jagannadhs and the Ravi Tejas.

It is sad.

...kahenge, Logo ka kaam hai kehna!

Finally they are out, and I lay hands on mine! The Indian Student Association out here had a contest asking people to come up with logos and captions/punchlines that symbolized the living here. Among all the entries sent, the one sent by yours truly was selected, and chosen to be used on the official ISA t-shirts, other publicity material, and merchandise, if you will.

IndiaSporA symbolizes all the students, student families, and employees here who almost share a common origin, who are here on an almost similar mission. It is a portmanteau of two words India and Diaspora, and this is apparent. The three letters I,S and A have been capitalized for obvious reasons to add to the effect. I have employed a cliche here, ... in togetherness we excel which is another form of saying the classic lines.

The logo and the caption were released on the 15th of August this year, and the stuff is out now.

It feels really good. It doesn't hurt if you are given a laser engraved Apple iPod for all this. Just adds to the kitty ;)

Boyle's Down To This

raw, kinetic, tantalizing, earthy, unkempt, peppy, a.r.rahman

Boyling Point, indeed!

Happy Diwali

I sincerely hope this Diwali and all the Diwalis that follow stand for good times, harmony, and add to the joie de vivre. Let Diwali stand for rockets and sky touchers like these, and not crackers like these and these.

Wishes don't get more sincere than these.

Decadent

10 years of Satya, 10 years of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai

10 years of Saving Private Ryan, and 10 years of Dil Se

what a contrast!

deteriorating decade, or decade on the rise?

Will leave it that

Silly Gilly!

Adam Gilchrist slams Sachin Tendulkar accusing him of not being a "sport".


Raj Thackeray ko phone lagao!


What on earth were you smoking Gilly?! I am sure the Buchanan's coaching manuals didn't have a chapter on Marathi Manoos

Gilli Dhand... aahh!

"Gilchrist's views make it clear that he isn't a fan of Tendulkar, who has been a hugely admired figure in Australia ever since he first played in the country as a teenager in 1991-92."

"Gilchrist not only accuses Tendulkar of being a bad sport, but also goes on to criticise his role in the 'monkeygate' scandal involving Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds earlier this year in Australia."

courtesy: IBN Live

Who do my loyalties stay with? A cricketer who I, we, have all grown up on and deified, or a gentleman like whom they don't make any more?

hEnry Thomas

courtesy: YouTube

Da Da Win ci Code

off... dance-down... drive... aggro... gentle... hoist...

silk... slash... steel... smooth... smile...

monarch.... madness... majestic... elegant... eloquent...


glory... guts... gumption... gore... gifted...


God

Wall-E xquisite!

A truly fitting tribute to the man who I haven't necessarily held in high regard for reasons.
A bulwark, anyway.

Can Billo Barber make the right cut?

What Rajni Kan't,


Shahrukh, Can?

Generally Speaking!

courtesy: Shoshana Brackett

I finally reached home coming out in absolute awe of this apparently affable general. It was only a godly intervention and call that made me walk to it.

It only struck me later that holy shit, this was a four-star U.S army general I was dealing with. He needn’t have been a Secretary of State or a National Security Advisor to be that punctual.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What a personality, I thought to myself. I was indeed expressive of my appreciation for him. It came out naturally I realized. Such was his impact in those 45 minutes of crisp, smooth, clear, peppy, humorous talk. I feel when people reach summits others could only dream of, they tend towards simplicity in all aspects of life. Simplicity becomes their tool so much so that mere mortals are baffled. Is it so easy being this simple? Was being simple this simple?


While the address abounded in some regulars like “Terrorists can never change the nature of who we are”, it was also peppered with the following which really made it worthwhile.

“I think one of the things the next president has to do is restoring a sense of confidence ... and restore the confidence that the rest of the world should have in us because we’re basically the same America we’ve always been but we’ve lost some standing in the world in recent years.”

“And we have to regain that I think by listening to others and hearing what others have to say to us in the world. ... The first priority is reach out to the world and listen ... and be very, very realistic about what we’re able to achieve and understand we can’t achieve without friends.”

“We have been a land of immigrants. Let us welcome more people into it. Yes, after some jolts we have received, we are a little circumspect and will do everything that will not jeopardize the security of our nation. But that should never stop talented and deserving individuals from coming here. They pay full fare (grins), they learn, they teach, they contribute to our growth. Then they go back, contribute to their economies. I think that is good because that is the only way to drive, keep them away from terrorism.”

Powell addressed as a keynote speaker in the 2008 HD Leadership Summit organized by the business school.
“The essence of all leadership is follower-ship. ... The job of a leader is to inspire ... so they are self-motivated.”
“Talk to enemies. It’s easy to talk to friends.”


Was Colin hinting at the circle of life when he recounted on how he was the most powerful and influential diplomat in this world, next in power only to the U.S president one day, and the following day he was a normal man walking down the road?

Then he went to narrate a heartwarming tale that was met with respectful, sober applause.

“I still walk up to the hot dog store in Park Avenue, New York, which I frequented even I was the Secretary of State. Only this time I wasn’t one. I enter the shop, order mine, and when it is time to pay up, the man across the counter refuses.”

and continued Colin Powell in a much mellowed tone as if almost orchestrated to elicit that sympathy,

“Aren’t you General Powell?”

“Yes!”

“I cannot charge you Sir. Only I know how this nation welcomed me when I was nothing and only I know where I came from. This nation has paid me enough Sir. I cannot charge you.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Will he be the same person who I had only seen on television and was definitely awe inducing? Will he make it on time? I have heard of their discipline, punctuality and all that jazz. Will the most powerful diplomat in the world do it? Will he set an example? Or is it that even they are like us, human?!

No sooner than I entered the coliseum flashing my pass, than he started his address.

8.00 PM sharp

oh! it's elementary, my dear

Just when the cynic in me thought all adverts were aimed at eyeballs with no iota of sensitivity, or honesty, here is a piece that should silence me for some time. It only makes me reiterate that eye-popping visuals go to the background when you are bowled by the concept in the message in question and the honesty to go with it. This applies to any medium.

Being away from T.V for a while now, I reckon this is easily one of THE best ads I have seen in a long long time, quite ironically on the tellytube.



video courtesy: Dow Chemicals, YouTube

nano ya na nano

What a contrast! While one has been seeing constant rebirths or retouches with the current ugly duckling out in its 4th generation, but current nevertheless, the other hasn't quite started revving yet.

Give me my fat, petite 3G any day(don't I love mine!) to the slim, anorexic back-to-square (pun intended) pretentious bitch. Wonder when I could say the same about the other. Will I get to do that in near future? What a pity!

The two true faces of technology.

Let me reword that

nanotechnology

class apart

It is a pleasure to be going to the same school as she does, and this course in particular. Lakshmi and I attended a class together this afternoon after a gap of about four years. So much water has flown under the bridge since those days of late 2004! But our outlook towards Science hasn't changed a bit. In fact goals and aspirations wise there hasn't been a wane. May be more clarity has set in. Just that folks back home are a lot calmer, happy, and moving ahead with their lives. I am really glad about that. It is a nice feeling to be in control of what one really wants.

chiru korika

I wish the celestial bodies stayed where they belong, for they cease to be when they take a descent.

Nevertheless, here is a brilliant piece that is a tight slap to people like me!

no Phony thought this

TRAI allows Internet telephony, STD rates may drop.

Wish the same could be said about the venereal counterpart too!

Par Where'z, Democracy?!

"He will be remembered as the man during whose period a watershed development took place in Pakistan, which is that the middle classes, the educated classes and the people of Pakistan began to understand in a very tangible way the significance of rule of law, of a constitutional democracy." -Political analyst Nazeem Zehra


True.

High Five

it hasn't been necessarily all the while. Each one of us has seen the ebbs to go with the highs and hopefully learnt from every experience. While I had met and known some of them prior, the journey that started with them exactly half a decade ago has been defining, and enriching in its own way. It has been a pleasure knowing each one of them. What personalities!

Cheers to Avinash Waghray, Anita Agarwal, Vijai Srinivasan, Chandan Bhuyan, Lakshmi Narayanan, Priya Sundar, Matthew John, Sabariya Selvam, Pratima Patil, Surendra Mohan, Sashikanth Gollapudi, Vandana Iyer, and Subhadra Rajaratnam!

May each one of us get to do what we set out to do and everything we aspired for. Thank you all for making August 11, 2003 a date to remember.

US Open

still! and it has been advantage me in the one year that's gone by. The match point is a long way to go, and whether I play it Singles or Mixed Doubles I want this match to be a long one.

Cheers to me.

Spiel Berg

Sorry Steven! you didn't make it. Just what the hell were you thinking when you made War of the Worlds (2005). Was it a proposal film making for you? Why were you so dishonest to Rick Karter, Joanna Johnston, John Williams, Michael Kahn, and Janusz Kaminski? Did Cruise walk straight from the sets of Minority Report(2002)? Why did he seem so listless? A mere adherance to H.G.Wells' classic concept with Lucas' ILM at your disposal would fetch you moolah, and you thought so? Seriously!? What was David Koepp's screenplay all about? Horrendous. You must have outdone yourself in the quantum of cinematic liberties you have taken. Somehow looking at the bigger picture, things didnot fall in place. Extravagant and seemingly laborious production design, individually good visual set pieces do not a good film make. Pity, it is you!

For a man whose power supposedly enables him achieve just about any god damn thing in the showland, War of the Worlds is a big let down. All your talk about the philosophy of the movie proves to be a big spiel and that's a huge berg of that.

I didn't know things could get so literal, name wise.

Sunny Days

seem to be over for this Deol. I reckon this happens to people at least from performing arts who are not versatile, who peak too early, who don't try expanding the circumference of their comfort circles. This is so true when looked at his contemporaries like Jackie Shroff, Anil Kapoor, and Sanjay Dutt, in the increasing order of their charisma, and who all started in the early 80s.

Pity, this man has had such a magnetic pull at the box office. Such a majestic roar (pun intended) has turned into a ghoulish silence. What an irony!

Czech Mate

I hope my man from Brno, Czechoslovakia finds his partner soon. Let him complete the circle of life.

Let good things happen to good people. He deserves good. Real good.

Rogered again...

and third time in a row.


"28-0 record at the French Open and a perfect 41-0 record in best-of-five clay-court matches" (Courtesy: ESPN)

Tch!

What a Spain in the arse?!

AB kuch baat hai?!

IIFA 2008 Thailand

Best actor: Shahrukh Khan for Chak De! India

Best actress: Kareena Kapoor for Jab We Met

While this pattern has been a sure leif motif of all the popular movie awards this season, what really irks me and adds credence to the words of people like Shatrughan Sinha is stuff like this of the Bachchans.

Best Male Acting Award: Abhishek Bachchan for Guru
Best Female Acting Award: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan for Guru

I mean what the fuck!



P.S. Amitabh Bachchan is the brand ambassador of IIFA

Loo and behold

What does one do when the seat is laid claim to, at the break of dawn?


Don't blame me for an incoherent thought; not that it never existed before, but this time I do warn. No wisdom of hindsight that!

rgv ki BL aag

Finally he is here, shooting straight from the lip. I haven't read much of Big B's page but I expect real fireworks from Varma. His page should be a breeze, a verbal equivalent to the way his Arri BL4s cut loose on Satya (1998). The man as always is simple, knows his stuff, and speaks his mind; the best thing being that nothing comes measured and weighed.

Trance

for me would be the knowledge of functional & pure Urdu, doing good lifting Science, pure & authentic Jazz music, reading some good pieces of writing, may be new books, some more music, writing more, and soul lifting stuff above and beyond the mundanities of daily material existence. I have said this before and it is so true even now.

I agree with so many wherewithals at disposal material, and otherwise, realizing most of this stuff is in my hands.

mani matters-3

It is noteworthy that the team the magician has comprises of people who wax eloquent and who hold forth on any platform on any given topic, not just cinema. Probably it is the synergy of all these positive energies and thoughts that has made his work click for almost close to three decades now, and stand the test of the time over which many a man has come with far more promise. Probably as someone put it his success could be attributed to the fact that he chose the right pearls lying scattered and threaded them into a nice garland. Read, watch any interview of Sujatha, P.C.Sreeram, Santosh Sivan, Sabu Cyril, A.R.Rahman, Rajeev Menon, H.Sridhar, Sreekar Prasad, Thota Tharani, Ravi.K.Chandran, Balu Mahendra, and in a different league Ramgopal Varma, Shekhar Kapur, and it will be clear what I mean. What delights me is that these people are the behind-the-screens variety, and yet give the stars and starlets a run for their fame. Each understands and acknowledges the medium as a whole rather than projecting his own craft as the limiting factor. Isn't that an advantage for any director who has the padding of so many "directors" and alter egos? Sreekar Prasad is an Editor and H.Sridhar is a Sound Engineer, and their interviews are read to be believed. When H.Sridhar talks about planting red herrings in Hassan's D by not showing two of the ten roles leaving something for the audience to ponder over, you know these guys understand human psyche more than anything else. Then broaching 6- track, 4-track, stereo, mono, DTS would sound dumb! The irony is that in the overall success, and the general impact generated by the movie that is in question these souls are never the recipients of instant and direct fame.

Yet they contribute, and how!

Kabhi Kabhi

I have written reviews for movies and I picture myself doing the same for soundtracks, but going ga ga over a single piece is a first. A.R.Rahman's tracks take time to warm up to and that is a known. So it came as a surprise that one of his latest offerings needed no time to get hooked to. It is such a relief to see him get out of period, patriotic, issue based stuff which of course he has been doing for a while with much panache in a way only he can, and get into contemporary fare. At least I have looked forward to him doing that, and what a track! I haven't ventured into listening to the rest of the album and I blame it on this gem of piece from Jaane Ya tu Jaane Na. Part jinglish, part fun, the first two lines from Abbas Tyrewala are magic and Rashid Ali's vocals on Kabhi Kabhi Aditi Zindagi seem so lissome.

awesome

I Pee L

Unparliamentary title aside which reeks of urea, I think the Sreesanth-Harbhajan-BCCI episode smacks of smart, sickening revenue strategy generated by smart asses in the Modi-Shah Inc. I am willing to hedge a bet on the likelihood of the scenario comprising of the PR/Chartered Accountant/Treasury guys involving the top brass at BCCI with a willing pair of scape goats in Sreesanth and Bhajji, pitching proposals across tables.

"Sir, we have noticed that the gate revenue isn't as much as we expected, and this is a blow to the very format which promised a couple of hundred crores to our kitty"

After careful deliberation it might have been decided to play the dirty card which everyone is up to in the entertainment-amusement-media-sports industry today; pluck the eyeballs when you fail to grab them. Oh, the instances are many, the mediaspace abounds in such examples. Rakhi Sawant tamasha, the Star News tamasha, the Yash Raj tamasha preceding any release are legendary.

They would have found two readily available jackasses in the said pair, and within time that would have subnuclear reaction times to shame, decided to have a drama at whose expense, the ever gullible junta janardhan.

"Sreesanth aur Bhajji ko line pe lagaao"

Come to think of it,

1) Harbhajan slaps Sreesanth hard in the field/dressing room
2) Sreesanth lets his emotions get better of him, sobs on the field like a kid who has been robbed of his candy by the highway dacoits
3) The fellow cricketers run up to console him
4) Hours later when IBN reporter asks him how it felt, Sreesanth plays the slap down cheerfully, smiling when he says "The shakehand was at the wrong place" with his sense of wit intact
5) Punjab XI complains to BCCI who take up the issue seriously, and what have we now Harbhajan faces a life ban

It doesn't take a Harvard MBA grad brains to smell the urea in this! I am all for banning a cricketer, sportsman when he doesn't uphold the spirit, or brings disrepute to the game at frequent intervals taking the very game for granted.

But at the end of it if Bhajji and Sreesanth are seen waltzing to Daler Mehndi beats at the closing ceremony, do not shocked or let the feeling of having been taken for a ride bother you.

Or is it that I am showing the signs of early senescence? Should I be taking all this with sacks full of salt as I am supposed to, and enjoy the circus?! Since IPL, ICL, 20-20, Honkong Sixes, Sharjah were always meant to be the junk versions of cricket aimed at the coffers any amount of cheap publicity or gimmickry was deemed okay. So this might have been one more instance.


Whichever way I look at it,

it is not cricket Gentlemen.

Scrapped!

After being a part of the utterly chaotic, silly, juvenile, social phenomenon for close to two years, I feel purged. The world seems so lighter, fuller, and richer after I grew out of it. I don't know if I might miss out on any good things owing to my not so impulsive decision, but I promise myself that I will keep in touch with all those fantastic souls whose associations have made my life so far worthwhile.

Not that I didn't enjoy while it lasted; I had fun, I met most of my buddies lost in time, met not so new faces, relived a few memories through photographs, videos and things like that. I would give full marks to Mr.Büyükkökten for his apocryphal search for his lost girlfriend something that served as the seed for this project networking people to a great extent, and hassle free that too.

But there came a point when saturation threatened to take its toll and I had to decide between two things; take it forward being a part of this customary social circus,

or kut the crap

I chose the latter.

Ab initio

It boils my blood when I see individuals becoming larger than the institutions themselves; the same institutions whose service they start off with, and in due course assume unsurmountable positions at least in their minds climbing on the small steps that the institutions offer at every corner.

While this is largely true of different arenas and streams viz. politics, sports, entertainment, and academia, disastrous it is when this disease afflicts those who are in the service of science. These moles by the virtue of a few degrees that they earn seem to be in the know of everything, and precisely at some point start acting Gods. While it is supremely beneficial for people doing science to be critical, cynical when required, and detailed what drives me up the wall is the fact these noble souls seem to reason out everything, and rationalize every known and unknown thing with our minuscule limits of reasoning. There exists nothing called "being in awe of nature", same nature which has an answer to every theory of ours and could unleash out fury with a latent smile. I am all for people advancing in science with newer pursuits adding a few material degrees to their names along the course of these pursuits. Science has progressed to a vast extent with contributions of endless number of such inquisitive souls, and will in future. No harm. But when they do not let an ocean as magnificent as science broaden their mental horizons, it is just not worth it.

Let us not even fool ourselves into thinking that we know all for we all are in the bigger picture mere moles.

On the Right Track

There are moments in cinema when you give it to the medium, apart from the reasons you should be, that is for content. This is for me one of those rare instances and for good reasons when form blows you away. Then you put all those ideas of perfect cinema being the one with content dictating form into your mental trash cans, and just enjoy the beauty. Well I agree if form were to dictate the content that would be manipulation at some level. But isn't cinema all about manipulating you at some level? Good cinema is about conviction and more of conviction, and when that is present everything is justified. Audacity, chicanery, urge to show off are all pardoned, and considered the core elements of the medium.

For me I have not seen such an audacious display of kinetics in a long, long time. Okay, the last time was Saving Private Ryan (1998). Joe Wright and Seamus McGarvey take us on this long ride (pun unintended), and a display of coordination, free flow whose highest quality is its seamlessness. I would have felt let down or downright "cheated", "fooled" if it were CGI phenomenon at display. Thankfully the digital additions were bare minimum, just restricted to a few ships, and some smoke I learn.



Atonement (2007) 5minutes 6 seconds



But had this prepared me enough for the Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil"?! Considering the time it was made in when tracks ruled the roost, and steadycams were unheard of, the opening sequence took my breath away.

Sweeping across the roads and junctions, hovering over buildings... aaah! framing, and what framing!

Touch of Evil (1957) 4 minutes 31 seconds



Tracking shots at their very best. What a ride!

People Trafficking

If you were to break the rules on road in Hyderabad during the non-peak hours, you pay for the crime.

You get to serve as a traffic constable for a day.


But do we want a city filled up with "traffic constables" to the brim?


Do we!

Evolution

The call for the "upliftment" of the Marathi Manoos well may turn Raj Thackeray into a Marathi Manhoos for Maharashtra, and worse, India in the bigger picture. The agitation no matter how justified by the MNS goes against the very fabric of India, something I have been personally proud of. If Raj can be practically evil, I could be devilishly ideal. The fact that a region, a country could be held ransom to an individual's ideology is frightening. Call me outdated but I feel fundamentalism will have it's share of limelight in may be 3049 AD.

I gushingly went in with my dad earlier. I win this this round appa. May be some other time for you.

Deep Throat

When God made Anu Malik, Strepsils were still in clinical trials

Khan Film Festival

,which is just an alternative name for the cinematic farce that has been celebrated and quite irritatingly venerated over years, the Filmfare Awards do it this time? While it is quite remarkable on their part to have Darsheel Safary nominated in the Best Actor in a Leading Role category, skepticism and cynicism in equal amounts come to the fore when the ultimate outcome is thought of. Bennett,Coleman & Co. might pat themselves for doing this groundbreaking act, and emerge winners in the first round. It truly remains to be seen if they are worthy enough for self appreciation the next time around, and when the unthinkable happens the gentlemen at B, C&Co. needn't worry for the whole cine folks shall salute them. Can they rub the power batteries on which their businesses run the wrong way? Wait! have Power awards 2.0 or some such crap have already been created to appease the powers that be? Nuclear Power awards, may be! or Power of Powers; or worse a Life Time Achievement marking the elegies. While these could be imagined when the stars in the fray do not have anything considerable or nothing at all to brag about, the bad news is that near apologies of performances in the form of C' De India, Guru of 2007 could be very well honored and Darsheel Safary might have to go back with some Critics' lollipop.



If the unthinkable were to happen the gentlemen at B,C & Co. needn't worry for the whole cine folks shall salute them

Knotty People, Knotty Ideas

Aalasyam amrutham visham should read their motto.


The top honchos of the Law Commission of India would have us believe that 18 is better than 21, the sooner the better, or in other words the marriageable age of men had better be brought down to 18 from 21. Their rationale is that if we guys could think for ourselves and better, decide for ourselves, why wait till 21!

Probably they haven't heard of my family.

Uncommon Man

An Iyer in Pune.

A quirky, wry, insouciant, double-tongued fantastic soul. Great lineage with two brothers making for two contrasting case studies.

Extraordinary.

Uncommon.

Rasipuram Krishnaswami Laxman



Thank you Anuradha SenGupta, Thank you Sudhir Dar, Thank you Dileep Padgaonkar, Thank you Abhishek Singhvi, Thank you Ravi Shankar, Thank you Rimanika Laxman, and Thank you CNN-IBN.

Thank you Bennett, Coleman & Co., The Illustrated Weekly and The Times of India.

Double Negative = Positive

"Zindagi kam hui hai, khatm nahi" Vishal Bhardwaj ("Blood Brothers")



God bless Vishal

God bless Guillermo Navarro

Surely in this case Lahu Ke Do Rang!

:)

Ozy Anthem

Humko Monkey Shakti Dena

US vs them or us vs them?

For a while now I have tried, in vain I realize in hindsight, to compare and contrast the two places that have meant so much to me in terms of sensibilities, and now geography. I have tried and tried, and realized I have been barking up the wrong trees. May be Pluto and Neptune, may be Madagascar and Honolulu. Not the US and India.

The US is as confused as India is, and may be at some level it has come to terms with the dichotomy in the application of its principles and well, living with it. Both the US and India cannot be pinned down, and that really says something.

Q.E.D

I have also realized it is good to take the best of both the cultures, and make it my own. Geography never came in the way when relating to the other sensibilities. People assume a lack of identity. I don't blame them. Sometimes I doubt my belonging. I do not know if I fit in "them" or "us", and that probably explains the title in whose word play otherwise I would have felt a little smug.

Exclusivity, anyone?

There are twelve astronauts who have walked the moon. The number of CEOs who have walked a golf course with Tiger Woods isn't much higher.

Del Jones
USA Today

Handling with Care?

Why is it that the carry bags in the US, no matter what load they are supposed to take, do not have handles?

Why is it that the boxes that are supposed to ferry loads of stationery in academic circles do not have handles or bars?

Earlier I had seen this in the movies, seeing it first hand now.

Life's Like That

of frozen tears
of supple bosoms
of inclement gods
of unrelenting water
of receding goals
of suppressed anger
of Frozen Tears

aiseech!

lalo, lelo, aur andar lelo, kaatlo, aur kaatlo, achhi tarah dabao...

for all the perverts letting their imagination run wild, that is a parking lot volunteer guiding a car into the right spot.

Hyderabad.

Pop Quiz Hot Shot

Where does one find Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla, Sanjay Dutt, Salman Khan, a weird WWF star, may be Sachin Tendulkar all together or in some incestuous combination, at a single place?

("Visual" Hint: White patches, arms at perfect right angles to shoulder joints, same with other limbs too)


ans: Hyderabadi Bone Setting Centres...

this Reader cannot Digest

the fact that the one publication I have looked up to, and in whose association my family has felt immense joy and pride, can commit such a blunder. Of late "alphabets" has become a common occurrence across all forms of media; not to forget "the alphabet A", "the alphabet Z" etc etc.

DeWitt Wallace might squirm in his grave.

tch

night in gale

I have realized I have never respected nights per se. Not that it has been a source of nuisance to others but personally speaking I have cared two hoots for the clock when my stuff was in question. I have drawn flack for it when body gave up at times. If things had to be done, they had to be done. Period.

So I should not be complaining of jet lags or body clocks going haywire!

I should not be.

Aayo Re

Cool breeze... Air of familiarity... Hyderabadi/Deccani... Rajiv Gandhi... Marredpally West... CCMB... Sahara States... Warm home... Warmer room... Cosy surroundings... Homely food... Home food... Calls of concern... Courtesies... People... Rascals (Sreenidhi, Aatreya, Sukruthi) "when are you getting married mama?"... Jolts from unexpected quarters... Concern... Health... Airport again... Farewell... Unnikrishnan, Bombay Jayasri on "Narumugaye"... Departures... Pals... Relations... "American dream at the cost of relations and occasions" (Ashish Narain)... Planning... White wonders... mails from Vijay Marur and Rama... Home theatre... Australia vs New Zealand... Chappell-Hadlee... ESPN-Channel 9... Olive Green score cards... The Da Vinci Code... HBO... LSU disaster...

Chicago Hope

12th December '07; O'Hare International, Chicago, US

Connecting to Frankfurt, Germany : ~ 30 minutes

Listless.

Out came the cell phone and quickly were punched in ten digits with equal listlessness.

"Hey! Hi T K"

"Are you travelling?"

"Yes"

"Where are you?"

"Chicago"

"Terminal?"

"C 12"

"OK! See you there. I am in C 16"

Yes, I did know I would meet him at all costs this time around, my choc-a-bloc schedule notwithstanding.

Never did I know it would be this soon at a place less anticipated.

Destiny?

Chicago to Frankfurt seemed smoother, and full.

Listless no more.

I still don't believe it.

Fourteen years!

B +ve

Cipher... Dignity... Hope... Truth... Trust... Courage... Frustration... Class... Hemant Chaturvedi... Faith... Love... Hate... Inevitable... Poise... Loyalty... Role Play... Shabana Azmi... Poignance... Boman Irani... Life... Cipher

Farhan Akhtar

Red Light Area

Of prudes, of prunes, of peons, of paeans, of pines, of pine...


It is trim time!

Just Within Me

I can't just recall when in recent times I would have campaigned for a movie so wholeheartedly. I surprise myself. My reaction and my response surprises me going by the cast, and I think it stops at that. Nothing done by the duo barring her mind blowing Dolly Mishra and mysterious Meera had prepared me in anyway that the movie could find so much favour from me. Would I count this movie in my picks? Negative. Would I label this path breaking? Negative. But somewhere the honesty surfaces amidst all the familiar flourishes we so want, and we so are used to. It is precisely where a right mix of predictability and unpredictability takes you by delightful surprise. It is where city merges with town so seamlessly that I am already in awe. Or wait! is it because of the true to life depiction of train episodes and railway stations? I don't know and my word shouldn't be taken for it for I have natural fetish for trains and trains in movies. No I am not even going there.

Imtiaz's work doesn't do without the customary songs and dance numbers set to them. It has them and has them in abundance. But where a "Mauja hi Mauja" alternates with Mohit Chauhan's "Tum Se Hi", you give it to them. You give it to them when Nataraj "Nutty" Subramanian reins himself well. You also give it to them when you have forgotten mathematically the number of twists and turns in the tale because you are so engrossed in the fare that you couldn't care less. When pages of dialogue are replaced by conversational gems, you feel good. When blues and yellows and blues and oranges alternate, you feel happy. You feel good when you write something about it just from the recall value and read nothing about it in abundance probably; and also when you have not looked forward to it because it is not worth your time and space.

You feel good penning about something which self admittedly isn't up there actually yet leaves a mark so utterly indelible. You feel good when Ms.Kapoor blows you away with her on screen persona making you crave more.

When Mr.Kapur pitches in such a restrained antithetical show, you are relieved because somewhere you want Ms.Kapoor to hog the limelight. Limelight she does hog, for this is truly hers. She does well in reminding me of my own imaginary muse.



aaah! that flute piece in Ustad Rashid Khan's "aaoge jab tum"...

f 5

I silently hope there were a titular button on our heads. Whenever banality, mediocrity threaten to put us down how I wish I could lunge to hit the button. Better, I could gift to some close pals too.

Days in our lives are like those webpages; when in good state they get loaded at a pace that would make everyone happy. Otherwise they are like those duds wherein one knows what the ultimate view of the page would look like to the actual potential, but are too slow to even show half the view. In the latter the status bar resembles those hose pipes which do not let the full flow of water gushing in, courtesy some junk blocking it.

Precisely that is where I propose a recharge, a refresh

...an f 5

Aqua Culture

I like curves

I like straight lines, little

I don't like much of sharpness

I like things smooth

I like European

I like Telugu

I like the sound of Telugu

I like neutral accents

I like furniture simple

I like abstract

I like functional

I like fluids

I like wet grass

I like fluidity

I like organic

Organic describes me the best

I like subjectivity

I like smooth turns

I like grace

I like lazy elegance

I like Azzha, VVS

I like a little crispiness

I like a little nonchalance

I like vast skies

I like being by huge water bodies

I like sedans, I dislike sports cars

I like a little of gloss

I like matte

I like motion

I like still

I like ellipses

I like circles

I like smooth, unobtrusive angles

I like slow panning of the camera

I like infinity

I like space

I like snug fits

I like sharp cuts

I like the comfort of cuffs

I like arrhythmic music

I like music that is beyond pallavi and anupallavi

I like rhythmic music

I like crisp poetry

I like fluid poetry

I like perfection, if it exists

I like imperfection, it exists

I like sanity

I like a little mayhem

I like raw

I like finesse

I like class

I like naughty

I like corduroy

I like green

I like olive green

I like cover drive

I like cotton

I like customs

I like practicality

I like to like that I like God

I like trains

I like trains in sheds and yards

I like sympathizing with trains in sheds and yards

I like trains in motion

I like dilapidated moss laden junctions, cabins, signal rooms

I like trains running on an imaginary track snaking through woods

I like long platforms

I like abandoned trains

I like abandoned stations

I like abandoned railway tracks

I like imaginary railway tracks leading to nothing

I like train cuisine

I like breakfast wrapped in banana leaves and paper on trains

I like wood

I like rains

I like scientific temperament

I like to wonder

I like scientific temperament, not at all times

I like sound

I like visual

I like normal

I like paranormal

I like surreal

I like curd

I like cows

I like folklore

I like fusion

I like to dislike remix

I like alloys

I like standalone

I like the sound of pure Urdu

I like wet roofs

I like indoor plants

I like khus khus screens

I like cane

I like mosaic

I like crooked, broken, uneven slabs

I like it low

I like it high

I like a merc

I like mystery

I like history

I like an imaginary cave with inexplicable light from an equally inexplicable source

I like carnatic

I like spice

I like white

I like rooms, spaces, junctions in homes which cannot be slotted

I like tall trees

I like old watches

I like mechanically wound watches

I like the seconds hand in a watch move smooth

I like order

I like disarray

I like detailed

I like brevity

I like it sensual

I like it physical

I like distance

I like proximity

I like macro

I like micro

I like children

I like the child in Gulzar

I like the man in Gulzar

I like Amol Palekar

I like it hot

I like to absolutely dislike lukewarm

I like optimism

I like effort

I like straight

I like purity

I like a little madness

My Best Friend's Wedding

My best friend LN is going in for a wedlock in January.

Here's wishing her a very happy, leveling, eventful, fruitful and fulfilling marriage.

Mega Pixels

As I scour the web for good deals, particularly for camcorders and digicams, I notice a phenomenon. Not that this is totally new, it has surfaced again in a slightly different form. Years ago the brands aiwa, akai started a trend wherein its mid-range and hi-end audio systems carried 1000 Watt, 2000 Watt tags. Discerning consumers were too quick to scoff at the phenomenon saying it's the RMS that mattered, and not the PMPO. It didn't matter how high the PMPO was, what mattered was how high the RMS was. Brands like Samsung, LG, and aiwa went in for a rebuttal saying it's the aam admi who mattered to them, the bill paying populace they were catering to. High end brands like Sony and Panasonic, I reckon, were wrong in believing that they could be aloof from this trend. Alas, they had to succumb; succumb, grudgingly. So where a 1000 Watt PMPO would have the jaws hitting the earth in mid and late 90s, 3500 Watt PMPO have been the order of the day; audiophiles still screaming that it was the RMS that would decide a home theatre system buy.

Similar trend has caught on in digicams. Where 3 MegaPixels (MP) was "decent" in early 2000s, 8, 9 and 10 rule today. Make that 12. It has been said well and over that the higher digit MP cameras are required only when one decides to go for blow-ups or large prints, and that is precisely where the difference between a 6MP and say a 7MP would show. Similar is the case with zoom (optical/digital). So one needn't be surprised if one found a more expensive model with lesser zoom capacity than a cheaper model with higher zoom. This is because the latter would be the proverbial hot-cake targetted at an entry level buyer. Anyway the companies seem to care two hoots for all this and are leaving no pebble unturned to raise the numerical bar.

Is this indicative of the requirement on brands' part to play to the masses? May be that answers the diluting down of the uber premium image of Sony, which had steadfastly stuck to its no gimmick stand. May be it was a lesson learnt that one cannot be excessively self indulgent at the cost of alienating one's audience/target group/consumer base. Unless you are a Bose, that is.

Are Anurag Kashyap, Sony India-Columbia TriStar-SLB listening?

man of the century

"There is a point in time when you and you only know - the rest know it a second later - and it's the best feeling as a batsman"



Adam Gilchrist on the joy of a six.



Adam has a hundred now

Home Santy Home

No, this is not an exercise in narcissism but a reminder to myself.

28 days to go.


Paakanum!