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?