1995 movie - Dangerous Minds

Hi,

This is an old movie of 1995 and I happened to watch it on TV. Earlier I had watched some movies of Michelle Pfeiffer, but this one by far was her best I have seen. She looks like a perfect fit for the story - a teacher trying to educate the unruly guys. Although I normally don't like those movies where you need to reach for tissues (there is a particular category which I have always liked but not the sad ones!), I was moved by Michelle's acting in some particular scenes in the movie. She gave a lot of life to her character - do try to grab a dvd and watch this one!

District B13

Hi,

If you have ever liked an action movie, even a part of it - even if you are one of those kinds who hate action movies, do not do NOT miss the movie 'District B13'. It is a wonderful amazing adventurous super movie. I saw the first scene of the movie by chance and could not take my eyes off it. It was directed at a breathtaking pace, with wonderfully athletic actors in the lead roles. The way the characters Le'ito and Damien jump from the ground, on to the buildings, off the buildings, onto the roofs, over the walls, up and down - Oh My GOD! I am never going to say I don't love action in movies. Such splendid action with wonderfully choreographed martial arts - it is seriously unbelievable! And no, they did not use much graphics. The two heroes are I believe originally stuntmen and they did all the stuff on their own. The pace of the movie is just ammazzingg... Trust my word and get the movie - btw, it'z a French movie so you need English subtitles to understand the dialogues and yeah the dialogue are good too!

I am Legend

Hi,

The good news is - since I am at US for the Christmas season, I could receive the $25 gift movie card that is given away to everyone in the team for the holiday season. The bad news is - I wasted more than half of it on a bad movie - I am Legend. Yep, it is a bad movie. I won’t give stupid opinions like - “It’s a decent plot, but a half baked one but still there are some takeaways” etc etc. A bad movie is a bad movie is a bad movie. It was gripping in the middle, but seriously lacks any meat. It is based on a novel and I think the author lacks the maturity of some other prolific writers of the age. He/she does not give any importance to detail. OK, I accept your idea that some virus spreads out in the world and 95% humans become infected, but where is the meat? Support it with facts - show the transformation. In the end, a touch of GOD is given, but again lacks any depth. Facts may not be required here, but some depth of the sentiment needs to be shown. He tries to put in some concept of destiny in a very naive manner. Will Smith is OK, but can try to be more choosy about the movies he takes up.

Welcome to the Hotel California... Part 3

The next day we set off to Mystery spot, a nice mysterious place located near Santa Cruz. It was a 1 hour drive through hilly winding roads with nice picturesque sceneries and amazing roads - all of which I had captured on the cam. Mystery spot is a hilly area where gravity laws are defied - no perfect scientifc explanation has been given so far. A person taller than me appeared shorter than me and I could walk slantingly etc etc. It was a nice experience, I did take the photos and the video. When we returned, I was all tired and sis took me to a nice mexican restaurant - Chipotle's. Nice tacos stuffed with Black beans, Guacomela sauce (again the spelling!!) and also some rice item with corn, sauce, beans etc filled my tummy - my GOD that was a meal! I have to take Deepthi to such restaurant some day - she will enjoy it a lot.

I had a nice dinner and set back on the return journey, only to learn at the Oakland airport that the pilot had not turned up!!! After listening to my complaint that my first ever trip within US was being ruined, the United guy offered me a direct flight trip from San Francisco till Philly the next day morning along with accommodation in a nice hotel called Westin. The hotel was good, but the experience was unwanted. I had to take time off on monday and probably will have to compensate by working on a saturday. Neways, that was about the journey. It was great and I am all tired. I returned to my hotel to find my Dell Lappy delivered :-)! I love it!

Welcome to the Hotel California... Continued

We set off to San Francisco on train. I captured the train journey on the handycam. Nice journey with a 15 minute travel over the pacific bay. we got onto a tram in San Francisco - looks like the trams are a trademark of the city. I captured even that on my cam. Then we reached the 'Fishermen's wharf' from where we set on a Bay cruise that took us through the bay area of the pacific ocean around the golden gate bridge - that is a historical bridge which had opened up trade in San Francisco some centuries ago. The boat then took us through the Alcatraz - which is an island in the ocean. Alcatraz is a prison where dangerous criminals are jailed. It is next to impossible to escape from the prison because of the security there and also because noone can swim 1.5 miles through the cold water to reach the city. Only 2 tried to escape long time ago, one of whom died and the other only survived bcos he was captured by the coast guards.

Then, we spent the entire day walking through the streets of San Francisco - we visited Madame Tussaud's museum over there. The wax idols there were not exact replicas - not the quality ones they have in London and Los Angeles - but they were good all the same. Srikanth took a picture of mine with Julia Roberts, Halle Berry, Nicole Kidman, Salma Hayek, Marilyn Monroe and Angelina Jolie. We bought some ghirardeli's chocolates (did I spell it right?!) and set back to Fremont. It was a tiresome night and I had a good night's sleep. Ankith was in a good mood and sang danced for several rhymes he has been learning nowadays.

Welcome to the Hotel California...

Hi,

I had been to California over the weekend. It was a long journey - a 6 hour long flight and another 1 hour long flight. United was the airlines I flew by. the operations were bad, I had to run for the connecting flight in Los Angeles with a transit time of 15 minutes only to learn that it has been delayed. And the gate number had been changed 3 times, before they finally flew us through a small flight where even the cockpit was visible to the passengers. The good thing was I met a Japanese guy there who started talking about India. I was wearing a kurta that time and he said it was looking good. He asked me for all the info about India - where do you find the people with turbans, where do you find those guys in mela doing all the tricks with fire, ropes etc. I had to tell him that the cities do not have such population. He was even interested in meeting fakirs. I was amazed at the knowledge he has on the Indian culture, but had to correct him several times of the perception he has. He was so afraid of catching flu over there, etc etc.

The air hostess in the first flight was a 50+ year old lady :(, but she had nice sense of humour which made the travel enjoyable. I got down at Oakland airport to find Srikanth, my brother in law waiting for me. I cannot tell you how happy I felt that time. Here I am in an alien country and for more than a month have not met a relative in person. It was really a great moment to see him and we headed straight to fremont. Fremont was a nice city with a fine weather and wonderful residential localities. I found my sister's residence beautiful. Ankith, my nephew was sleeping and my sis gave me some nice home made chapatis to satiate my hunger. I had a nice sleep. I woke up in the morning and had nice andhra food cooked my sis - rice, donda kaaya curry and mamidikaaya pappu. It was gr8!!!

American Gangster

Hi,

I have been to a theater for the first time in USA and luckily I have chosen a wonderful movie with 2 great actors and a nice script. We had booked the tickets online and picked them up from the kiosk at the theater - nothing different from PVR or INOX or IMAX theaters in India. The corridor we had to pass through to go to the Audi was not that great and there was nothing to buy - at least I did not come across any pop corn stall or anything like that. Probably bcos it was 10 30 in the night, all of them were closed. You will feel, there is better night life in India than in USA - of course NY, Las Vegas, LA and all have amazing night life here. But, in general, US guys' concept of working is 8 AM to 5 PM and go to bed by 10 PM or so. But, one thing to be noted here is - the staff that greets you always has a lot of energy. The guy who checked our tickets - wished us good evening and showed us the way and waved saying, "I hope you enjoy the movie!" This gives you a good feel.

The inside of the theater was very much similar to PVR or INOX, probably they are better. Bcos it was a night show, there were only some 10-15 guys in the theater all stretching their legs on the seats in front.

Now, coming to the movie, the movie starts at a slow pace with a typical screenplay of a gangster movie. There are hints of the affect of 'God Father' on the screenplay. But, Denzel Washington is one great actor. He completely got into the character of Frank Lucas. Russel Crowe on the other hand, played in a very subdues role, which is very admirable considering the fact that he is a great actor too. He basically lets Denzel run the show and Denzel has no problems with it. Some people may not like the screenplay that much and also - maybe the end. But this is a real life story, so I think the screenplay does justice to it. You tend to appreciate the business mindedness of Frank Lucas. He basically manages his supply chain so well to make millions. In all, it is a great movie and Denzel was superb. Don't miss it!

Bidding site

Hi,

This time I visited a Free gifts link. This is a link where 'after you become a member' you can play a simple game to win the Sweepstake. The game is pretty simple even for a first time user. The lowest 'unique' number entered will win the Cash prize. You may enter 0. But if another person enters 0, it is no longer unique. Quite an interesting game.

I like their billing method. The membership fee will be deducted in your mobile bill. Well, I really do't know how safe it is to give away such rights to such websites. In any case, people in US who are used to the casino culture may not find it that tough.

The membership fee is a bit costly. But, overall I like the UI design and the simplicity of the game :-)

Insurance site

Hi,

I was going through a life insurance link this time. Well, since I am in USA currently on business purpose, I thought I should choose one here. The site is decently user friendly but there is too much text for a first time user to go through. There is a form on the right hand side which when you fill out gives your insurance quote, but the website design needs a lot of work to make it "user-friendly".

I was once discussing the concept of structured data with a product manager at a reputed website company in India. You basically structure the data so that the search can be done in an organized fashion and also a first time user of the website knows where he needs to go for the information relevant to him/her. The above link may take a hint from this concept and add some structure to the data on their website.

The resultant page will be something where a user enters the site, you ask him/her a set of questions - What are you looking for? What is your age? Would you want to choose A or B and then at the end display the specific information that best matches the interests of the user. Well, just an idea and makes a lot of sense for insurance websites like this one. They do the same at the call centers to optimise the time a caller spends while trying to get assistance from their call center. Why not do the same on the websites to make the user's time spent more valuable?

Blogsvertise

Hi,

I like the title Blogsvertise chosen by this link. Although there is not much creativity involved - It is made from the two words - Blogs and Advertise - it conveys the meaning easily to anyone who hears of it for the first time. Although the site offers monetary benefits to the bloggers, they need to publicise their business in a much better manner. Basically, whosoever likes to earn money through this site should feel it is happening in a systematic manner and doesn't play around with the terms and conditions of the blog server they are using.

Neways, I have taken the task of going through some random websites and writing my reviews about them. How do you like the idea?

Cracker of a cricket match

Hi,

If an American finds the news of India winning a world cricket tournament interesting and sends a congratulation mail to his Indian colleagues, I am sure you should accept that Twenty20, the new format of cricket started with the same purpose, has been successful. I spoke to my American manager and he was all inquisitive about the kind of effect India-Pakistan matches have on the cricket fans. I am sure, I have sold the concept of cricket to him. All praise should go to ICC for introducing the format that binds people to the game.

Now coming to the match, I am a big believer in body language and other psychological factors that affect the result of a game, and since the toss, I could see that India, though nervous, had the belief that this was going to be their day. The way Dhoni spoke immediately after the toss showed that even 'captain courageous' could get nervous, but something in his voice conveyed that they were going to pull it through. Shoaib Malik tried to put on a casual tone dismissing any pressure India-Pakistan match can have on his team, but the tension that he had beneath the surface was evident.

India did not have the best of the starts, but Indian batsmen have matured in the way they are handling innings. They are no longer giving any importance to reputations and are believing in the age old wisdom of building partnerships. The partnership between Yuvraj and Gambhir was actually a good one. Though Yuvraj did not fire, Gambhir kept going and made sure that India had a good platform for a decent score. Rohit Sharma utilised this platform to push the scoreboard just beyond a respectable score. While Gambhir controlled his risky shots, Rohit Sharma impressed everyone with his cool head.

With the runs on the board, Dhoni's men always believed they had a chance and applied pressure the way they had done in the previous matches. After Azharuddin, I feel Dhoni is the only captain who has succeeded in pressurizing the opponent teams. I am not saying anything against Saurav or Dravid - they both were excellent captains, but their captaincy styles were different. Saurav and Dravid lead their teams by setting an example whereas Dhoni's style is that of bringing the best out of his mates and making the right tactical moves to put pressure on the opponent team.

Anyways, RP Singh and Irfan Pathan took crucial wickets for India and the match was almost over before Misbah showed some real guts. Again it was Irfan and RP that pulled back the game with 2 important wickets. Dhoni's decision to give the ball to Joginder Sharma in the final over can be debated till the end of this milennium but the only thing the decision shows is 'Dhoni knows tactics'. It definitely was a surprise for Misbah and he was tempted to go for an uncoventional shot and failed miserably.

The post match euphoria was evident the most in Harbhajan Singh's actions. The way he was shouting and the way he was jumping and dancing just showed how much the victory meant to India. The last catch taken by Sreesanth set the nation on fire. Deepthi and I could not believe it for a second, particularly after witnessing Misbah's batting, and we both were jumping for the next 5 minutes. The tournament has costed me a lot of mobile bill, as I was constantly on phone with my Dad and Vivek Chauhan discussing every wicket, every sixer. Never in my life have I enjoyed a cricket tournament this much. Hope to see more of such tournaments and more wins for India. Chak De...

Indians get past the chokers

Hi,

I liked Sunil Gavasakar's song at the end of the Thursday match between India and South Africa - 'Chak De, Chak De India! Choke De Choke De South Africa!'

So very true. India batted like men and bowled superbly (except for the umpteen wides given away) and fielded like lions and made sure there was no chance they could not qualify. South Africa never ever believed they could even qualify to the semis (let alone winning against India).

The comment made by Dhoni, "The team believed that they can beat SA even on a pitch as tough as the Kingsmead's and the belief got them through" and the comment made by Shastri, "SA have always looked at the figure 126 rather than the figure 154 and believed that there was a possibility of them getting knocked out. That belief did them in" sum up the mood in the two camps.

I also liked the comment made by Graeme Smith, "We seem to be inventing ways to get ourselves knocked out of World Cup tournaments". I actually felt sympathetic towards the SA camp when they started panicking to qualify for the semi finals. But at the end of it, there is just one statement you can make. THEY DID NOT DESERVE A SEMI FINAL BERTH.

I had watched all the world cup exits of SA:
1. 1992 - Only their 1999 exit was as tragic as the 1992 one. In the semi final encounter against England, their target was revised from 22 runs to win in 13 balls to 22 runs to win in 1 ball - by a stupid rain rule.
2. 1996 - SA having won all their league matches was on a song only to face wounded Windies in the quarter finals. West Indies, having suffered a humiliating loss in the hands of the Kenyans, gave it all they had to defeat the South Africans. Lara's 111 in the match was a world class innings.
3. 1999 - The tragic exit where SA almost scraped it through with Klusener in deadly form. His 2 boundaries off the first 2 balls of the last over just rocketed past the fielders who stood helpless and then Aussies tightened the field to get Donald run out and a first ever tie in a semi final match in the World Cup took Aussies through because they were rated better than SA in the Super Six stage.
4. 2003 - None was as stupid as the 2003 exit where they mis-read the Duckworth Lewis system and ended up with a tie (which knocked them out). Boucher playing a defensive shot off the last ball will make him grimace at himself every morning when he wakes up from sleep.

True that the players' psyche gets affected due to such losses. But the fact remains - If they can't play under pressure they can't win the world cup.

A match to learn from

Hi,

The India Vs New Zealand match in the Super Eights was a match for the Indian cricketers to learn from their mistakes. Firstly, Dhoni has to realise that Agarkar is not the best bowler to be reserved for the final overs. I understand that during the early overs, he is getting tempted to use the spinners and other slow bowlers which is leaving him with Agarkar as the only option towards the end. But in this match, Dhoni had 2 overs of Pathan left and still he opted for Agarkar.

My sympathies are with Dhoni because he expected him to bowl with the same economy after yielding somewhere around 15 runs in his first 2 overs. Same with Yuvraj. Yuvraj is a kind of bowler who can be given only 1 or 2 overs just to break partnerships. He cannot bowl better than that. The batting lacked the maturity after an explosive start given by the openers. Batsmen just had to stay there to get runs, but they panicked.

And Dinesh Karthik was a culprit in the match. He had dropped the catch of Jacob Oram when New Zealand were batting. Then, he got Dhoni run out and he himself tried to hit too much off Vittori who was bowling amazingly well that too the immediate ball after he got dropped (the last ball of Vittori's spell) - he committed too many blunders and looks like he is praised by everyone because he looks athletic. True he looks athletic and saves some runs in the field once in a while, but he lacks some basic skills to play longer for India. Let us hope he learns soon and the team too learns after its mistakes in the match.

Whhatt...a....mmatchhhh...

Hi,

The Twenty20 match between India and Pakistan was one of the best cricket matches I have ever watched. Not that, great quality cricket was played, but the match had all the ingredients of a box office thriller. The first ever tie in the T20 world cup and the tiebreaker in the form of 'Bowl Out' was amazing to watch. And the fact that India won the 'Bowl Out' comprehensively was even more satisfying. It was good to note that Indian team was prepared for the 'Bowl Out' and Sehwag, Bhajji and Uthappa are among the best candidates for the same eventuality. I believe no other team would have done this much homework on "Bowl Out'.

Anyways, the match was gripping from the beginning till the end. Although India lost 4 early wickets owing to a superb spell by Asif, Indian batsmen had never given up. It was good to see them play the entire quota of 20 overs and make as many runs as were possible on the pitch owing to the bad weather conditions. The bowling was good and despite some loose balls by Bhajji and Agarkar in the end, it was impeccable. It is time the Mumbai selectors stop pushing Agarkar into the team. He has done enough damage and has proved to be a match winner for the opponent teams. I personally used to be a fan of his bowling as he was a wonderful wicket-taker. But he is too expensive a bowler to be retained in T20. Irfan Pathan who is bowling wonderfully wasn't kept back for the last overs in a match which had all the signs of having a thrilling finish. Anyways, the last 2 balls bowled by Sreesanth were gr8 under pressure and Dhoni's cool head was easily seen in the attitude of the Indian team. Now that India is in the Super Eights, it is time to let the best players be included in the playing eleven.

Pakis need to rethink their strategy

Pakistan almost lost the match yesterday at least in spirit. But unlike Australia, they did some very good damage control and thanks to Afridi won the match by a comfortable margin.

When Ravi Shastri interviewed the Paki coach Geoff Lawson, he said their strategy was to keep Afridi towards the end who could then accelerate the scroring. Mr.Coach, you got it all wrong. If you had thought Afridi was just an accelerator, in yesterday's match he disproved it.

He is a mad mad hitter. Send him at the top of the order and you will see the difference. Imagine, if Afridi had made the same 22 in the first 2 overs, Paki score would have been some 37 at the end of 2 overs and Scottish bowlers would have been in a disarray and would have bowled defensively trying to save as many runs as possible. But since no batsmen from Pak took the initiative, they started aggressive and Paki batsmen could never really flex their muscles. Well, in after thought, it all looks so obvious. All said and done, Pakistan held its nerves and just did what was enough to beat the Scots.

On the other hand, Australia were in a daze. They never realised that the match was rapidly slipping out of their hands. I am sure the likes of Sunil Gavaskar will now have broad smiles on their faces. I somehow feel Australia has a really tough task against the English. England has very well groomed T20 players thanks to their county tournaments and would fight till the very last ball with Australia. We will have to wait and watch!

Trip to Araku Valley

Hi,

Araku – If you have not heard of the name, let me try to use my pen to describe the beautiful mountainous area near Vizag. Dad, Mom, Deepthi and I attended my cousin’s wedding and were happy to catch up with many close relatives some of whom I had not met for years. The plan was to travel back home the same day until Deepthi proposed a trip to the Araku valley area to spend a nice day. It was easy for her to convince me and Mom, but Dad put up a strong fight having got tired of back-to-back journeys. But then, I always had confidence in Deepthi’s persuasive skills. Deepthi not only made him agree to the trip but also managed to get a booking at one of the jungle resorts in Araku valley region. She booked a ‘Wooden Log Hut’ accommodation for the four of us at the ‘Jungle Bells’ resort in the village named ‘Tyada’. Hold on if you want to know more about the jungle resort and the feel of the tribal culture we had experienced there.

So, the four of us set off from Vizag in a train that started early morning. The rail journey was one of the best I had - through tunnels that took us into the heart of the Eastern Ghats. Although I hadn’t kept a count of the number of tunnels, I could hear the 9 year old kid sitting nearby yelling at the top of her voice, “50”. We came across several beautiful lush green valleys and chill waterfalls that shone in the early morning sun.

We got down at the station ‘Borra Guhalu’ meaning ‘Borra Caves’ and walked down the railway tracks and then off them to get to the entrance of the caves. On a board that was hanging at the entrance, there was a description of the history of the ‘Borra Caves’ and also the scientific explanation of the formation of caves in the mountains. The name ‘Borra’ is a telugu and oriya word meaning hole and the caves have been named so as – ‘years ago when a cow fell off the mountains into a huge hole, the caves were discovered’. Legend says that the cow had fell through the caves into the river flowing at the bottom of the hills and came out alive. That had triggered the belief that there was something divine attached to the caves. The river was named ‘Gosthani’ river. Gosthani translates to cow’s udder.

The scientific reason for the formation of the caves seems to be the flow of water for years together through mountains breaching the rocks (something of that sort). Several structures of stalagmite (or was it limestone – plz bear with my feeble brains) have been formed inside the caves due to the settling down of the dripping liquids into various shapes. These structures have triggered the imagination of the people who believed that idols of various Gods have been formed naturally inside the caves.

After reading the description, we walked down the entrance of the caves. It was a beautiful sight. The hole at the top through which the sunlight beamed would have triggered the imagination of writers like Enid Blyton. We hired a guide who took us through the caves showing us various structures which have been imagined to be Lord Shiva, Parvati, etc. And then he pointed us towards certain dangerous locations inside the caves where a lot of honey combs resided (2, 3 people who ventured in there never returned. And then he showed us the top of the caves which was black (ash-like) in colour and told us they were all bats. Deepthi asked him, “I hope the bats won’t attack us”. He assured us they won’t. Some of the structures there seemed to have got the black ash like colour due to the bats (probably some deposits from the bats which he did not want to talk about).

Then, he showed us a place at the top of the cave where there were some idols people worshipped. We walked up there and realized that it wasn’t as easy as it looked. Getting down was far difficult because a small slip would have costed us our lives. We came back to the entrance of the caves all exhausted because of the hiking. On the way back, he showed us various locations inside the caves where famous movies – ‘Jagadeka Veerudu Atiloka Sundari’, ‘Guna’ and ‘Jamba Lakidi Pamba’ were shot. If I were in the production team of those movies, I would have lost 10 Kgs by the time the shooting had finished. We came out with huge satisfied smiles on our faces. Deepthi was all smiles as she knew everyone was thankful of her. It was not all over yet.

We took a jeep to ‘Tyada’ where we had booked a room in a jungle cottage. It was a hilly road and we reached there in 40 minutes. ‘Jungle Bells’ was a nice resort with several wooden cottages built on the lush green hills. We had to climb to our cottage ‘the Wooden Log Hut’ – a wooden hut-shaped accommodation mounted on logs which were planted into the hill. There was a balcony and 2 rooms with attached bathrooms. We finished our lunch and had a nice afternoon nap all tired from the hiking. We were in for a surprise when we went down to the jungle restaurant in the evening for tea. The tribal women were about to perform the tribal dance ‘Dhimsa’ in an area just next to the restaurant. I finished my tea and was all set with my digicam to capture the tribal dance. Some men came and lighted a fire and to my surprise were heating the ‘dhol’ in the fire. Deepthi said heating the ‘dhol’ would help them produce louder beats out of it. The tribal women walked in, all of surprisingly same height. They were wearing saris in the tribal fashion (tucked into the blouse).

Bang on time, the music started and the 13 women holding each other at the waists started moving in an amazingly synchronized fashion. I was not tired of watching them dancing the same steps for about an hour. Each time after going around the stage twice, they would all gather in a circle screaming in a high pitch voice. The dance was a treat to watch except for some 5 minutes in the middle when one of the crazy guests got on to the stage and danced rather awfully causing annoyance to the tribals. He was soon pulled out of the stage and the tribals danced merrily leaving us with a taste of their culture and lifestyle. After the dance, we 4 finished our dinner and went back to our cottage. Dad and Mom went into their room, but Deepthi and I decided to enjoy the moment by dancing like the tribals. Hearing our footsteps, Dad and Mom came out and immediately Mom joined the party. The 3 of us held each other by the waists and danced like the tribal women for about 15 minutes on the balcony. It was truly a great moment I will remember for years to come, the 3 of us just hopping around merrily holding each other’s waists. Dad got a bit conscious to dance but he sure was helping us with the choreography and was a good audience.

With thousand watt smiles we went back into our rooms and had the best sleep of our lives. We got up early morning the next day and set off in a bus to reach Vizag from where we caught a train to Rajahmundry and reached home at about 3 PM. This surely was one of the best places I have ever visited. So when are you going to visit ‘Araku Valley’?

Dravid should step out...

Hi,

Dravid's decisions have so far been pathetic to say the least about them. To start with, his decision to not enforce follow on in the Oval Test was one of the worst and most timid decisions taken by any captain of any national cricket team. What kind of message are you sending across to your players and your nation? That you can't even take a gamble to increase your lead in the test series? It all reflects the attitude of the India batsmen. Indian batsmen have long forgotten their natural game and are just playing to satisfy their critics. Sachin no longer would clear the field in the initial Powerplay overs as he is afraid that the moron sports news reader of some stupid channel 'Aaj Kal' or whatever would term it as lack of responsibility on his part. Saurav only plays to stay long enough at crease because he wants to re-cement his place in the team. Although Dravid cannot be blamed completely for the batsmen's attitude, his decisions reflect the insecurities of the Indian batting line-up. They all know they were stars at a certain point of time and the public expectations of their performance are huge. That is the very reason why they do not want to take any risks and play their natural instinctive game.

The bowling department's attitude is even worse. They know that the media, the fans and everyone know the lack of discipline of Indian bowlers and so they do not want to try anything new. They have got used to the blasting they receive after every defeat of the Indian cricket team. Instead of trying to rise to the levels of the International best bowlers, they keep getting satisfied with the fact that they are better than other Indian bowlers. That way, Kapil Dev, according to me was a great bowler. He always set his own standards and tried to better them every time. Indian bowling department has never recovered after the departure of the likes of Bedi, Prasanna, Kapil Dev and others. Javagal Srinath had always been a moderate bowler who would do nothing spectacular but would do enough to avoid any blame.

Are we playing cricket to avoid blame game? Do we not have a dream as a nation - to win the world cup, to be the best team in the world. Anyways, coming back to Dravid's case, his decision to field first with a team whose batsmen shivered to the likes of Anderson, Stuart Broad and who else (I can't even remember the names of some of those inexperienced bowlers). How could such batsmen have chased any total? And the worst part is his defense at the end of the match. He blames it all on the bowlers and the fielders. Well, if that department has been crippled for a decade now, as a captain you could have taken a decision that would help India win. Dravid still is a good Test captain inspite of his bad decision at Oval. He has the stature to lead the team through tough times and the determination to get the best performance out in trying conditions. In ODIs, India needs a more agile captain with a quick thinking brain under his hat.

A play in a play in a play!

Hi,

So finally it has ended. My 2 month long stint with the theatre group MisF!T has finally ended yesterday. For 2 months I had had a lot of fun learning all the basics of theatre from developing a character to projecting the volume on stage to moving professionally on stage. At the end of the workshop, we had to give a presentation. There were 8 of us who had scripted this play titled 'The Last Scene' which belongs to the genre - 'A play in a play in a play'. We were to make the presentation at Tunbridge High School last night at 8 PM. But heavy rain had brought a huge frown on all our faces. That was when Ratan Thakore Grant (our instructor) stepped in and found us a place in a restaurant - AJ International. We made space for our play and for the audience and improvised on the spot to suit the space constraints provided by the restaurant. It was fun and I thoroughly enjoyed acting under such circumstances. Finally to the clapping of the audiences (there were around 30 invited audience) we introduced ourselves and received their feedback on the script and the individual performances. I was appreciated for one character I played - 'Director RK', but was thrashed for my performance as 'Inspector Joshi'. Oh yeah, we all played 2 characters because it is a 'Play in a play in a play'. I will provide the venue details when we stage another show, why don't you drop in?

Romeo And Juliet

A love-struck Romeo sings the streets a serenade
Laying everybody low with a love song that he made.
Finds a convenient streetlight, steps out of the shade
Says something like "you and me babe, how about it?"

Juliet says "hey, it's Romeo, you nearly gave me a heart attack!"
He's underneath the window she's singing "hey la, my boyfriend's back.
You shouldn't come around here singing up at people like that...
Anyway what you gonna do about it?"

Juliet, the dice was loaded from the start
And I bet that you exploded into my heart
And I forget I forget the movie song.
When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?

Come up on different streets, they both were streets of shame.
Both dirty, both mean, yes and the dream was just the same
And I dreamed your dream for you and now your dream is real.
How can you look at me as if I was just another one of your deals?

When you can fall for chains of silver,
You can fall for chains of gold,
You can fall for pretty strangers,
And the promises they hold.
You promised me everything, you promised me thick and thin, yeah!
Now you just say "oh Romeo, yeah, you know I used to have a scene with him".

Juliet, when we made love you used to cry.
You said "I love you like the stars above, I'll love you 'til I die".
There's a place for us, you know the movie song.
When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?

I can't do the talks, like the talk on the TV
And I can't do a love song, like the way it's meant to be.
I can't do everything, but I'll do anything for you,
I can't do anything, except be in love with you!

And all I do is miss you and the way we used to be,
All I do is keep the beat and the bad company.
Now all I do is kiss you through the bars of a rhyme,
Juliet, I'd do the stars with you any time!

Juliet, when we made love you used to cry.
You said "I love you like the stars above, I'll love you 'til I die".
There's a place for us, you know the movie song.
When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?

A lovestruck Romeo sings the streets a serenade
Laying everybody low with a lovesong that he made
Finds a convenient streetlight, steps out of the shade
He says something like "you and me babe, how about it?"

"You and me babe, how about it?"

Nostalgia - Jungle Road

Jungle Road

I rode the cities, I rode the towns

I rode the streets, the ups and downs

As I reached the edge of the human abode

I drove my wheels to the Jungle road

Jungle road the magical road

my heart kept beatin’ as a whirlwind blowed

Jungle road the magical road

the ground kept thumpin’ as the elephants strode

The song of the birds, the whistle of a train

the dance of the trees to the tune of the rain

the kiss of the breeze, the mist in the sky

caressed my soul as I whizzed past by

the Jungle road the magical road

my soul kept dancin’ as the wheels just rolled

Jungle road the magical road

the mystical abode of stories untold

Nostalgia - My siver jubilee b'day

30th of May, 2006 (It was my birthday btw) - at 12 late night, my friend Massi gives me a call to wish me Happy B'day and then says, "The weather is beautiful tonight. Why don't you open your door and come outside". The Sherlock Holmes in me started deducing something out of this and I realised that this guy might be waiting outside to wish me happy b'day. My guess turned out to be true and Massi and Nelson were waiting outside my door with a b'day cake and a gift wrapped up nicely. I was happy but was surprised bcos none of my friends ever treated me this way. I cut the cake and started opening the gift. I saw a nice grey bag and asked him how he knew I wanted to buy a bag. Then there was a nice shirt inside absolutely of my liking. Then, I saw a Temptations chocolate. I felt there was something fishy. I looked at him and he asked me to open and read the card. I read the card and was totally amazed when I found that it was signed...

Deepthi

She had asked her colleague visiting Bangalore to pass on the gift to Massi who would drop in at my home by 12 to surprise me... It was truly the happiest birthday I ever had...

Nostalgia - Yeh hai meri kahaani...

Hi,

You must be aware of the movie - 'Zinda' in which the hero Sanju baba sings this song 'Yeh hai meri kahaani' during his stay in the tight-walled jail for 14 years for no obvious reason. Same is my state now. When I had come to Bangalore I had chosen to become the flat mate of Kallu mama, as I saw nothing wrong in that decision. Now I will describe my weekly routine as a flatmate of this die hard Sanju baba's fan:

yeh hai meri kahaani
khamosh zindgaani
sannaata keh raha hai
kyun zulm seh raha hai...

The monday starts with the same song yet again. I get the feeling that I have been destined to hear this song at least some crore times, before knocking on the doors of heaven or hell.

ek dastaan puraani
tanhai ki zubani
har zakhm khil raha hai
kuch mujhse keh raha hai...

It is Tuesday.. or is it? It looks like Monday yet again.. sorry sorry.. looks like nahin.. sounds like Monday..

chubtay kaantay yaadon ke
daaman se chunta hoon
girti deewaaron ke
aanchal main zinda hoon

Wednesday.. had a tough day at work.. Came home to relax.. and yeah sweet song.. let it be the same song.. I don't care.. I don't know if this is a punishment and if it is, I probably deserve it.. like Sanju baba thinks in the movie..

bus yeh meri kahaani
be nishan nishaani
aik dar beh raha hai
kuch mujh se keh raha hai

Thursday has been a good day at work.. The client seemed to be impressed by my work.. wow days have changed, now I find work interesting once in a while.. but has the time really changed.. nope nope..

chubtay kaantay yaadon ke
daaman se chunta hoon
girti deewaron ke
aanchal main zinda hoon

Friday.. the weekend is approaching.. am enthusiastic about finishing off my pending work at office so that I can remain free over the weekend.. mission accomplished, lemme go back home to see if things have changed...

Ab na koi paas hai
phir bhi ehsaas hai
sihaaiyon main uljhi pari
jeenay ki aik aas hai

Well.. the weekend has approached. Well, now that I know this particular aspect cannot be changed in my life, lemme as well start enjoying it... woww.. what a song...

yaadon ka jangul yeh dil
kaanton se jalthal yeh dil

Sunday.. where is the song.. Kallu mama.. wake up and turn the bloody song on.. Lemme hear it.. hear it again and again.. the way Sanju baba gets addicted to fried wantons.. but all said and done.. this is definitely a very good song.. hats off to Strings... am your fan..

chubtay kaantay yaadon ke
daaman se chunta hoon
girti deewaron ke
aanchal main zinda hoon

Yeh hai meri kahaani...........................

River on the Rise

Hi,

I was standing on the banks of Godavari in between two of the longest river bridges in Asia. It was a beautiful sight. To my left was the oldest bridge connecting Rajahmundry and Kovvuru, which was built by the Britishers, standing rock solid in spite of the wear and tear it has accumulated over 70 odd years. To my right was the newest bridge constructed 10 years ago, made of concrete, with beautiful arches adding aesthetic appeal to it. Both the bridges were separated by not more than 15-20 metres. I was standing in the middle and I had a look at Godavari water which had calmed down after showing its fierceful side 3-4 days ago hitting lots of villages in Konaseema with floods. The water had the calmness and serenity marked by the cool breeze blowing over it, but it still looked ugly because of the lives it had ruined. I looked up and saw the converging parallel lines (quite paradoxical), the two bridges (more than 3 Kms in length, that is how wide Godavari is at my place) running parallel but giving you a view as though they are converging at the other end near Kovvuru. There, at the other end of the bridge a dim light showed as a train was getting onto the new bridge, at the same time a lightning flashed in the sky and I so badly wanted to capture that moment in a photograph. But they say a picture is worth 1000 words. Let me see if a 1000 words can give you the experience the picture had given me. Below is an attempt at poetry (bricks n bats welcome)

Stood I with my feet sunk in the godavari river
froze I as the breeze touched me as cool as ever

To my left stood an old bridge solid like a rock
to my right was the newer bridge that carried the track

As I looked towards the horizon where both of them kissed
the dim light of a train showed, as the river below hissed

Beauty filled my eyes as lightning filled the skies
and I sang a song in praise of the river on the rise

Yeh hai Sanjay Dutt ki kahani!

Hi,

Sanju Baba got it all wrong. Yeah, I am talking about Sanjay Dutt the bad boy of bollywood who has been sent to jail at the age of 56 (or is he 48?) as he had once bought a toy called AK 56. Of all the people who got upset, I can tell you Kallu mama - my ex-roomie would be the saddest one. Today Kallu and I were discussing what Sanjay Dutt could have done to escape this penalty. He could have followed the example of Dr Haneef. He could have bought his toy in Australia and got caught to the Australian police. The Minister would have cancelled his tourist visa and the media would have criticised the Aussie Government for this. His sister or daughter or one of his lovers should have worn a yellow sari (with some help from their homely friends) and made an appeal to the Indian government.

This would have given him all the sympathy in the world and he would have been sent to India. Instead what Sanjay Dutt did was - he acted in this movie called Zinda where he sought experience in jail (his sixth sense would have forewarned him and encouraged him to get some jail experience) and then he did this movie called 'Lage Raho Munna Bhai' where he drew parallels between himself and Gandhiji. Kallu mama, the Sanjay Dutt fan argues that Sanjay Dutt is as great as Gandhiji since both of them got sentenced for 6 years and that too in Yerawada jail. Yo Kallu mama, you are a true fan!

Jokes apart, I feel if his offence is something punishable, the judge hasn't done anything wrong in punishing him. Of course, he still has the legal option of appealing to a higher court. I like the way his family and he himself are conducting themselves. When he comes back he will have lotsa people waiting with bouquets. Long live Sanju baba!

Brew Ha Ha...

Hi,

There is this coffee place called Brew Ha Ha in Koramangala with a nice novel concept. You can go there and ask for a game for 30 minutes and an instructor would come and explain to you and your partner (s) the rules of the game you have chosen and play a sample game with you and then let you play. You also get some complementary coffee I guess (I forgot how much it costed and all, but only remember that the rates were very affordable).

Neways, there are some negatives to this idea. Since I had gone with my wife and we both like the ambience to be quiet wherever we go, this place did not serve our purpose. There will be lotsa people, some couples, some friends (they have differnet games for 2s, 3s and 4s) shouting, laughing and making some noise which did not go that well with the 2 of us. Another thing about the instructor did not impress us too much. While instructing the rules to us, the 3 of us were playing - me, my wife and the instructor and the instructor was playing his best game. This did not go well with me as I wanted either my wife or me to win. So what I did was, I sactrificed mine and made sure my wife had a lead over him and finally my wife won it. Well, probably the instructor was the nice guy here and I played the bad guy, but my wife and I enjoyed it. Neways, the game itself was interesting and even the coffee was good. Definitely we want to go there again. Why don't you go with your friends some time to Brew Ha Ha and tell me your experience...

Don't lean towards the left... it's not right

Hi,

I have decided to use more of my right brain at work from now on. When I come to think of it, all the learnings I have had in my life have been in the left side of the brain - Be systematic, be logical, follow rules, be on time, deliver on time, deliver what is expected, etc etc. But never had I said to myself - appeal to the imagination of the end user, Be creative with the work product, imagine yourself in the end user's shoes and look at what might be expected, go beyond what the customer says. Well, I did use some of these at times at work but never very consciously. I believe not using right brain and using the left brain continuosly can be a reason for stress at work. In the sense, being systematic, following known procedures and processes is like routine which bores you easily. This also adds a lot to your guilt conscience because when you do not do something in an organised fashion, you tend to criticise yourselves. So, you are always thinking of the daily routine you are 'supposed' to follow as a resonsibility on your shoulders.

'Responsibility' sounds like a very positive quality but if you look at it what it means is - ability to come with a response. It is similar to 'answerability' and 'accountability'. I am not saying these are not required, but getting them too much into your head makes you think of only how to satisfy the other person, how to satisfy your boss, peers etc, but not yourself. So, next time a task gets allocated to you, instead of getting into a duty conscious mind (the responsible person), look at it as a piece of work at which you can excel. That would make you work for yourself and the quality will also improve because you are using more of your right brain.

Nice weekend...

Hi,

I had a very nice weekend. Well, not because Deepthi had left for her hometown, poor thing had some fever. I had a good time because I did not spend it lonely. Normally, before marriage, I would spend the weekends and holidays rather gloomily keeping to myself. But this time I somehow did not want to be lonely. On Saturday I wanted to cook food (well if you call whatever I cook food), but then cooking and eating alone would be rather boring. So I called Rana home and we had the meal together. I made Bhendi fry and Toor Dal and Rana seemed to have enjoyed it. We watched the movie 'Big Daddy' together and in the afternoon we had discussion about general things in life, what should life be like, importance of spirituality, etc etc. And then I took Rana to the theatre class and he thoroughly enjoyed it. We had dinner with Ratan (the intructor) & Co after the class and left for home at around 1 O' clock. If only the traffic police had not caught us and asked for documents etc, I would have gone to sleep much more happily.

Sunday I called up Vivek and invited him for lunch. This time, my Aloo fry seemed to be getting spoilt, but Vivek came just in time to save it from any further damage. He added Biriyani Masala to Aloo and it was rather tasty. I am now inspired, thanks to Vivek, to try my hand at experimentation at cooking. Then, Vivek added tadka to the toor dal I was making which made it tastier. We both watched the cricket match after that and in the evening decided to head to Indijoe during happy hours. I came back home by 10 in the night and had a really nice nap. Early morning at 8 AM I heard the doorbell ring but wasn't excited as I knew Deepthi's flight would reach by 8 30 AM only. So thinking it would be the baai outside, I opened the door and to my surprise Deepthi was here - she had lied to me so that she could surprise me. Neways, meeting her after 4 days did cheer me up and here I am all charged up for the week.

What on internet do I dare blog...

Hi,

I was thinking - why not re-visit the idioms of good old English and make them more contemporary. I have some examples below:

Situation: Say you do not understand the motive of the lazy moron who has been bugging you day in and day out to sell some credit card to you, you would say,
Old English: 'What on earth are you bugging me for when I made it clear that I would never in my life buy your credit card!'.
New English: 'What on internet are you bugging me for when I made it clear that I would never in my life buy your credit card!'.

Situation: You tell your partner that you see cracks in your relationship.
Old English: 'I dare say our relationship is ending'
New English: 'I dare blog our relationship is ending'.

Situation: You told your prof that he is mistaken about sonething.
Old English: 'He got very hot under the collar when I suggested that he might be mistaken.'
New English: 'He got very hot under the earphones when I suggested that he might be mistaken.'

Do suggest some more...

Five Point Some Potter...

Hi,

I had watched the play 'Five Point Someone' staged by the group EVAM in Chowdiah Memorial Hall last Saturday. It was a nice adaptation and there were some nice creative techniques used in the play to make the stage look like a classroom the Insti roof and also the hostel room of the 3 main characters. They have a website where you can book tickets for any of their forthcoming plays http://www.evam.in/

Neways, I have been reading 'The Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'. Yeah don't blame me but I had always thought that Harry Potter was meant for kids and never got the interest to read it. Now, I have given in to the hype created by the release of the 7th book in the series and am aiming to get to the 7th book in a month or 2. I have almost finished the first one. Though I have watched the movie, I find the book a very book read. JK Rowling is an amazing writer. The simple language she uses makes it a very light read and to her imagination, all I can say is 'hats off'. Will compare the different books in the Harry Potter series in the coming posts. So keep visiting.

New initiative at work - iPAD

Hi,

I have taken this new initiative at work iPAD to make Project Activity Documentation easy. Basically, I have been handling the audits of our team and had got several comments from the quality team over the documentation of team's activities. The team is supposed to maintain an activity log, peer review records, Minutes of meetings, delivery mails, appreciation mails, Issue Register, Weekly status reports and what not. Each of the above has a prescribed format and whenever an activity happens at work you need to save a file in the prescribed format at a particular location. I myself had faced a lot of problems trying to save these files. So I had decided to create one excel sheet with each activity log as a tab so that you can fill in all the data at one place (you can give it a geek tag - data integration but this is more from the enduser perspective - the enduser's headache gets reduced a lot as he/she just has to keep one sheet open all the time and fill in data whenever an activity happens in his/her project).

Since this sheet is a log of various activities that happen in the project, I decided to call it PAD (Project Activity Documentation). It also sounds like a notepad, so gives an intuitive feel as to what it is meant for. And then suddenly I got the idea of naming it iPAD or myPAD (inspired from google's iGoogle, Apple's iPod and MSN's myMSN, Yahoo's myYahoo etc) and then we agreed upon the name iPAD since i would stand for Integrations which is our team name. So finally I have created an excel sheet template with 7 tabs and named it iPAD (Integrations Project Activity Documentation). I see some initial success in using it. Earlier, it would require some n reminders before getting the teammates to fill in various sheets. Now, everyone keeps their own iPAD sheet open and fills in the required data. Hope this carries on well and yeah I am really going to boast about it in any interviews I face later in my career. I personally am very satisfied with the initiative.

Acting Classes

Hi,

Yes, I have joined acting classes. There is this group called MiSF!T owned by this theatre actor cum director Ratan Thakore Grant which holds acting workshops for beginners. MisF!T stands for 'My Interest Stys Firmly In Theatre'. Quite an innovative acronym. Ratan is a very nice individual with absolutely great brains and also a very energetic personality. The kind of energy he puts into the classes will make you want to perform your best whenever he asks you to enact something out. Also, the theory he teaches is so very logical and makes great sense. Kallu, Chauhan and all have already started making fun of me, but theek hai, I am doing what I enjoy.

There were 2 exercises Ratan had made us do which have really made me less nervous than I was before (not just on stage but also in the real life). In one of the initial classes he would ask everyone in the class to give every other person in the class a Page 3 kiss (you basically do not touch the cheek of the other person but just act as though you have given a kiss). Initially you blush to do this, but after doing it, most of your inhibitions are gone. Last week he has made us blindfold a partner and make the partner walk on the road. When I was blindfolded and taken out by my partner, all my senses got heightened and I really started observing things better. One of my old friends had recognised me and asked me if something happened to my eyes. I laughed and told him nothing happened. Neways, after you go through a lot of raodside guys and vehicle riders staring at you in sympathy and curiosity, you lose your inhibitions and nervousness. Also since your eyes are closed, you start observing with the remaining senses and realise how much confusion eyes really add to your mind...

Back to Blogspot

Hi,

Its been years since I was able to access this blogspot. I thought my account would have expired by now but thankfully it is very much alive. I had a lot of problems over the past 2 years in maintaining a single blog site. Once I decide upon a particular blogsite, my company would block that address and force me to find a new one accessible. But from now on, I think I will stick to just this one. If I am not able to access it, I will just post my blogs through mail to the same address. The shifting of address has resulted in my identity crisis and also I have lost some fans over the last 2 years. I am not going to let this happen from now on.

Neways, it has been 6 months since I got married and life has been really different since then. My lifestyle has changed a lot. During the months of Feb and March, I was engaged in Aerobics at my company, but after that I had discontinued mainly because of the glue on my ass which doesn't let me move from my seat. I had been learning carnatic music but I had discontinued even that last month. My music sir was a little disappointed, but somehow, I thought of moving forward. My attitude doesn't allow me to practice Carnatic music daily (and believe me that is really essential if you are to learn singing). Since last month I have been attending a theatre acting workshop help by a theatre group called MiSF!T. This has really been a great experience for me so far. Now I know what to think of if I am on stage and how to get that expression right, those dialogues right and the act right. The head of this group, Ratan is a very nice personality who makes you think a lot and at the same time puts you on stage making you apply what is taught. I will update you more on what has been happening in these acting classes in the next post. Till then.... bbye....