Weekend movie

In college days, my good friend Thilak Obla had a fantasy( dream, vision, aim what ever). He wanted to watch 4 shows of different movies back to back in different theatres. I first heard this during the 7th Semester exams ( late 2002) at the canteen. At first, I thought it was madness, but later I took a liking to it and wanted to do something similar but in a multiplex so that travel hassle is reduced. I was never ready to try 4 movies in a day. Two back to back sounded okish but again 2 bollywood or kollywood movies back to back was difficult due to
a) selecting watch-worthy movies back to back and arranging tickets
b) How good the movie may be but standing 12-13 songs in 4 hours is a bit tiresome..
My first trial at two back to back movies was during 2005 on my birthday. Both were English movies, each of about 90 minutes long. Not a big deal.

After 4 years, he experiment was on again but this time an English movie of 120 minutes and a hindi on of around 150 minutes..

The english one was about a plot to kill Hitler that failed and the aftermath of it. Though it dos not sound as exciting as the movies on the holocaust, this one (Valkyrie) was a very neat one. Well planned script and narration, good acting and above all, a plot that makes one sit for 2 hours without moving. Theres not much to go gaga about, still its worth a watch.

Now on to the second one; The much hyped Delhi-6. Swades in anew bottle. The directey rakesh mehra seems to have joined a gang of other film makers who just preach. The portrayal of delhi is clichéd and some the theme for some sequeneces are no different than the ones seen in many other movies… The movie is way too long and boring.
This is one of the movies towing the neo-secular line. Some common aspecs of Indian tradition is mocked at and so called superstitions are questioned. The minority angle is also thrown in. There is nothing new or interesting in the movie. Had it been shorter, it would have been at least a good entertainer. Whatever the makers have tried to do, they have not come out clear and have failed… But many may still like the movie ..

The thamizh feeling

Ideally, i should have posted this one in thamizh but considering the fact that it takes way too much of my time, i chose the queen's english.......
All of a sudden, the sinhala- thamizh problem in SL has come to haunt Indian thamizhs... somebody commits suicide by burning himself, some one fasts until death, some rougues aka lawyers create a ruckus and get a nice thrashing frm police and cry foul, some morons jam the roads, a CM threatens the use of force and threatens criminal proceedings to stop some rhetoric, an external affairs minister is involved .. wow thats a big list.....
Well well well.. i really dont care much about what happens in SL... It is really unfortunate that an ethnic problem has ruined many generations of peace...but shud i cry just because the victims speak the same language as i do? nay i have seen the same thing hapen in the very country i live and no one cares a damn...they just go on as normal... Afghanistan is still eing ravaged by petty war mongering does anyone care either? .. almost 40% of the world's population is in the same plight.. so lets not talk about all these... coming back to he SL question... The brits have a knack of leaving things they started in a disaray... be it India Pak partition animosity or the other issues elsewhere... Ceylon when the brtis left was a fairly peaceful land... the protestant Dons were prominent in politics be it stephen senanayake or hs cousin dudley... no issues,... enter the convert SWRD ( yep they are part of his name) Bandaranayake.... B'nayaka was a protestant but converted budhist .. he tried to drive sinhalese as a prominent language etc... which was not taken well by tamils.. he tred to moderate but was shot in cold blood... hence started the issue.. things were okish until about the late 70s and 80s when LTTE started gainig prominence and a full blwn war started....refugees went from Jaffna to India, and all over the world.. the war was on and off and LTTE became internationally noticed when they mastered the assassination of Rajiv, the Gandhifamily Scion and for sure the PM of India had he survived....Lankan Tamils from all over the world kept funding LTTE. and no one cared until about 2002, when Norway thought something should be done abt it.. btw why did norway give a hoot? bcos as norwegian s thought that the SL refugees were too much for them now... so Eric Solheim became the peace negotiator , Pirabakaran ( thats how they spell it) and Anton Flashed all over world's TV and in answerto Srinivasan Jain's (NDTV Guy) question on Rajiv's murder, they replied that it was a "TRAGIC INCIDENT" ... and ask for pardon from India.. what crap??? Luckily the NDA govt said that it will not be a party in the peace process and whatever the outcome be Pirabaharan is still a wanted crimial in India and LTTE is still a banned org until things changed.... now during the peace time, which saw an economic boom, the LTTE had no dearth of funds and built an airforce.. things changed again and in the full blown war that ensued, LTTE has lost...
suddenly after 2 decades, poiliticos in main tam land have something to shout at...
External Affairs minister as said that the tams in srilanka are a trotured gang, the gov pounds them and so do the LTTE.. hes right.. but his remark drew protests from some MPs.. cant beleive some MPs of Lok Sabha have the guts to supprt the terrorists instead of their own minister... and thats how India is... many members of the film fraternity also have jumped in for LTTE.. guys wake up... LTTE orchestrated the murder of any alternate tamil opinion against pirabakaran.. they shot padmanaha of EPLF at Chennai ... they killed kadiramar and many Tamil MPs from SL... they are using civilians as their shield from army.. still you have the naivity of supporting them.. One long tme MP vaiko has the audacity to say that he will carry arms for them... now he should be banned from politics... freedom of expression cant be taken for granted...one simple logic is , if u support LTTE as martyrs then whats wrong with some ppl in Pak supporting LeT or Jaish or what not? they can give the same reasons as you.. but do you really bother abt that...nay.. cos Kashmiris dont spk tamil do they?.. any form ofterrorism should be condemed and LTTE isno better that LeT cos LTTE's act of building up force when peace was declared is heniuos.....
All tamil students who tow the line of politicos are wating their time.. guys do something worthwhile....
Some lawyers pelted eggson Dr Swamy( a long time anti-LTTE man in India).. Dr Swamy may be a polictical misfit but he is an eminent lawyer of the supreme court and an academic par excellence. you as awyers should have respected him.. for he is one of your seniors... Nay.. we just wanna show our "tamil ness".. Acts like these are not going to help any tamil person and beware, everyone is watching your antics...
the government of India's stance of non interference n SL affairs is a very good one.. we gain credeibility as a nation fighting against terror.. Thanks Pranab and all others... True Tamils are behind your decision...

Musings again

I am back after trying a post in tamil..

want to discuss a few points here
1) President Obama says wall st bonuses are shameful.
Vald in the current situation.. But knowing fuly well abt the crisis ur campaignspent billions of dollars.. A chunk of it wud have come from wall st.... U better cut costs at gov level before asking them to cut bonuses... also they get fired at will.. not like u guys where 4 yrs is guaranteed and even another 4 yrs is sure if u are popular enuf... ur team is no diff u have tax evaders in ur core committee.. but its just that u get a hero;s image while poor bushie is seen as a villian just like papa bush....
2) Renuka chowdhary says Pub Bharo in response to ram sena.. how ridiculous.. she wants a majority of ladies o be alcoholics just bcos some moron hit an odd gal... will she say brothel bharo if tomm some other moron hits someone in a brothel?... what a mudhead of a minister?
she is known for slapping a traffic police man who stopped her at a signal... God save us from creatures like these
3) Pak says part of 26/11 was plotted in pak and wants Kasab back..
WHAT??? thanks for telling us wht we knw.. but why kasab.. let him eat free food in mumbai for a while.
4) Media covering the beating of a 5 yr gal
You guys are hopeless ... you still say u need more freedom.. u had a surver saying u did a gud job in mumbai coverage.. shame on u... u definitely need censor...
5) Dhoni says we'll enjoy the game and keep relishing the wins until something bad happens ( a loss)
Bravo ur feet is still on the ground.. u said this after 4th ODI, we lost the 5th ...No worries.. we dont need a team like aussies who just win and once they get used do anything to win.... all we need is just win a majority of matches and cups :) or atleast fight well..
6) Commies fight in kerala openely...
Shame on u guys... even when u had a reputation for strict intra party discipline , no one voted... now u have scams and factions and wht not made public... who will vote.. u dare not do politics just for opposing BJP ...
7) Pranab mukherjee bats for rahul and someone compares him to Obama....
Height of sycphancy.. Rajiv never got a degree nt sue if Rahul has one... we all know he studies abroad and enjoyd thr... what he really did who knows.. just roamd arnd india for free and now says he'll be PM .. God Save India...
8) India Inc bats for Modi as PM
too early to say that.. agreed hes a grt administrator.. but he has to moderate a lot....
9) Unprecedented protection for valentines day
Its become worse than Dec 6.. cant say anything except for pitying the policemen as they ve got one more headache day... same wil happen for halloweens and what not..
10) Recession!!!!
when will his get over? seems its like hanuman's tail...

எண்ணங்கள்

இன்னிக்கு ஒரு சந்தோஷமான விஷயம் நடந்தது. ஒரு வழியா மேல் படிப்பு முடிச்சாச்சு. இதுக்கு அப்புறம் என்ன பண்றது? யோசிக்க வேண்டிய நேரம். ஏதானும் புது விஷயமா படிக்கலாம். இனிமே என்ன படிச்சாலும் ஒரு ஆர்வத்துக்காக மட்டுமே படிக்கலாம். பரீட்சைல தேர்றது, தோக்கறது பத்தி பயம்,கவலை இல்லாம ஒரு குழந்தை மாதிரி படிக்கலாம். கொஞ்ச நாளைக்கு படிக்காமையே இருக்கலாம் (இல்லடா மட்டும் படிச்சு கிழ்சாச்சு!!!!). எந்த விஷயத்த தேர்ந்தெடுகறது? சட்டம் ,பத்திரிக்கை, கணக்கியல், பொருளாதாரம் இப்படி ஒரு பக்கம். நிர்வாகத்துறை முனைவர் படிப்பு ஒரு பக்கம் ... என்ன முடிவெடுக்கலாம்...?? கொஞ்ச நாள் போகட்டும்... ஆண்டவன் சொல்றதை செய்யலாம்.....

finally

after 4 years i started it, after 6 years of me becoming a graduate, finally i have managed to get a part time MBA.. an chievement personally... its not an ivy league MBA, not one that'll give a jb with awesome perks.. but still a major confidence booster.. i have gained knowledge indeed and imhappy about it.. the area of specialzation also is complimentary to the job i do...so its time to celebrate and im off ..

women rights et all

This is a country which is no good than many other counries in women rights.. well even the US and A has gender prejudice..so what abt us....usually Delhi has the worst history in women rihts abuse.. butother states are fast catchin up.. yesterday's Mangalore incident brings many questions.. no one tried to stop it.. and btw who was filming all this? the attackers or some curious media man.. if it was media folk i have one question.. "Are u human? is ur heart made f mud? wuld u do teh same thing and film it if ur wife or sis was being hitten?" the worst aspect is no one dared to stop the attackers.. agreed people inside the pub were caught unaware but the filiming crew cud have done more , called some folks for help and atleast cud have tried to put up a fight.. Govt is right in censoring media they deserve that.. senseless idiots.. they wud put anything on air to get cheap TRP points... F*****s!!!!!!!
The min Renuka comes up and says she'll disenfranchise any party involved.. if thats the case, we wud have no party left in the country..congress needs to be disenfranchised for 1984 Sikh riots, BJP for 2002 ,and manymore for many such incidents.. ntil and unless we have a public awaekening nothing can stop these.... and Renuka is known for slapping a policeman who stopped her at a signal.. so shes not the one to speak abt all this.....

ne ways life goes on and the cameras are ready to cover another such shame.. how many such incidents have happened in the recent past, the juhu incident, noida and now mangalore... shame on us

La république

So finally R-day is here .. our 60th and 59th anniversary of Bharat Ganarajya aka the Republic of India... and the chief guest is Nursultan Nazarbayev from kazakhstan.. Whenever i hear this name memoirs of Borat haunt my mind.. I have written abt Borat http://kahin-duur.blogspot.com/2006/11/my-name-is-borat.html ... Borat is a fictional creation of Sacha Cohen a hammersmith born cambridge educated brit standup comedian....
comin back to nazarbayev... Not sure why he has been invited.. hes regarded one of the corrupt leaders from the erstwhile soviet era.. with no elections he's clung on to power in Kazakhstan.. Incidentally K'stan is the 9th lagestcuntry in the world and is a land locked country with rich gas deposits.. it borders Uzbekistan, the country where Tashkent is located.. In 1966 LB Shastri died mysteriously when he went for a peace meet with Ayub Khan there...
India of late has been cochi cooing with such people.. including Than Shwe of Myanmar ( Myanmar has untapped gas which China also is eyeing).. Once in some press meet Pranab Mukhejee said we need to change our stance.. im not sure whether this is a part of it..
May be in a yr or two we'll invite Muammar al Gaddafi, Kim Il jong and who not...
of all these dictator guys, the Syrian Assads are the coolest...
Remebering dictatorship, yesterday was the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Bose who said to hitler that under any case India will not accept dicatorship... I am proud to be a bose follower...
Dr Singh is in bed and already succession talks have begun.. atleast the media has started it.. I wish that he agrees for one more term in case UPA wins... in the unlikely event of NDA winning ( i say unlikey cos anyways the commies will support congress and NDA might fall short as last time ) we anyways know who the PM will be... India wll soon again become the fiefdom of the Gandhi family with RG waiting in the wings...some website said hes the Obama of India.. the best insult to Obama which even GOP cudnt think of......
Lets ee in April what happens unil then long live the republic...Jai Hind

new yr

i have been observing for the past 4 years that the new year ushers in a sense of defeatism, boredom and what not in me, which continues for a further 3-4 months.. It has become a pattern since 2006!!!! now i feel i wud have been better off grazing cattle somewhere and want to run away and hide myself at the first instance available......im assuming that this cycle will also have a self correction as teh previous years.. if nuthing happens in the next month or so may be i'll try and make somebody else's life miserable

corollary to my pev post

I was mentioning about my jiju's trip and travelogue .. now he's released a blog version of the same. http://harishna.blogspot.com/2009/01/sandesh-from-east-one-day-during-first.html
He has portrayed me in a bad light (well thers nutin gud about me )...!!!

Corollary to Nivas

This post is a corollary to the earler post http://kahin-duur.blogspot.com/2008/03/nivas.html on Nivas.. Unfortunately Nivas dint make it to any of the services last yr... he is awaiting this yrs results .. but the new yr has brought in a grt news.. Nivas has made it to the Tamil Nadu State Group A police Service and is appointed as a Deputy Superintendent of Police now... way to go .... congrats....

Travels & travails

I dedicate my first piece of crap in the new year to travels...
I am inspired bymy athimber aka Jiju in hindi... Athi shares the same name as me but with the first and last names swapped.. Im Rajagopalan Krishnan n he is Krishnan Rajagopalan.... More than the name, i found out during my 4 months stay in Mumbai that i have a lot in common with him... he is a very practical person with common sense prevaling over him more than anger or frustration.. definitely a person to emulate ( im sure atleast Viju athimber another jiju of mine would agree to this) ..more about Krishna athi later... but this one is dedicated to his first vacation in more than 5 years... While i was in Mumbai, i had played a minor part in making the family plan for a vacation .. My sis jiju and niece had one helluva time in Gangtok , Kolkatta and Bhubneshwar.. Athi who slogs 14-15 hrs at a major bank has somehow taken off time to write a travelogue ( he says it is nt a normal traelogue) .. He is yet to release an official version so i dare not violate copyright..he calls it sandesh from the east... I have been fascinated by the east of india ever since i vistied Guwahati.. and today at 2-3 instances i felt nostalgic abt the east.. first n foremost an NDTV Docu on the Brahmaputra.. it brought the days durin which we used to travel to pan bazaar n phaltan bazaar in front of my eyes.. second my mum called me to get the terminology of magh bihu after reading a newspaper report...magh bihu is makar sankranti in ahom.. the day b4 bihu , which is called bhogi in tamland and whr we burn old ietms,in ahom land theconstruct a hut and stay all night.. in the morning of bihu they burn it.. its called bela ghor...my memoirs in a bela ghor with biblab kolita (landord's son) came rushing to me.. i will soon plan a trip to guwahati ( betel market).....and finally athi's travelogue compunded my resolution to visit the east again.. more than his travels the travails of athi n family make a great read....
I also happened to remember how dad and me just planned a trip on paper using the railway timetable ever year .. we never went on a holiday courtresy my health..
going a step further, trying to emulate jiju i had planned an elaborate two week trip from pune to bangy and chennai and srirangam ...all on first ac ( my long unfulfilled dream)... but had to cancel all and take just a week's holiday to chennai n a crampy low cost carrier....... i end up emulating a scaled up version of our childhood planning ......from planning on paper i got upgraded to planning on web :-) thru etickets................
whatever happens im planning to get one trip by my birthday so that i can also write a travelogue emulating jiju....

Acting and Overacting

Though I want to write about a different subject here, i take a moment to congratulate the proteas for mauling the scumbag kangaroos!!!!
Ausssie thoo thoo.. and OZ supporters especially the self procalimed oz fanatics in India who like oz jus becos they win.. ARHHHHHHH THOOOO to u all.... ab aaya na oonth pahad ke neeche!!! people ask me why i keep spitting... well if in the Arab world, the highest form of insult is throwing shoes.. ( its an insult here too)... in tam land the highest form of insult is spitting.. shoes come nect to that :-)....

Ok now back to acting and over acting.. i was just comparing and wondering about the acting of a few indian greats....
startinh with raj kapoor indian films first superstar... well raj kapoor was a great story teller and a connoiseur in the technical aspects.. he was not a very verastile actor .. (Sorry Dad ).
Dilip Kumar was great as Devdas but thers a film called Gopi in which i feel that his acting is terrible... Dev saab was great in hum dono, but Jewel thief was overdone.....rajesh khanna did wonders in many muvees but his so called classic amer prem is awfully done .. the AEY PUSHPAA is irritating at times :-)... I felt shammi ji mostly overreacted expect for Prince....

Bachhan sab was great earlier on buthis later movies like kohraam in which he played dadabhai and Balbir sodhi is YUCK!!!! so is is lal badshaah .. even in the epic black in a scene where he transliterates bull shit in sign language the acting is over and above ... not to mention his role in bhothnath... yaaaawn!!!...i don wish to write abt dharam and sunny paji :)
SRK is a versatile actor but his roles in Anjaam, Ram janee and Duplicate are grotesque !!! i mean he just went cuckoo for no reason ... to top it his Dish TV ad is unbearable!!! plss dont be santhust i feel like banging his head with a hammer !!!!
Aamir is very perfect but his role in Ghulam was overdone.. especially after the success of rangila he just over did the tapori bit.. his later coke ads are also very weird....in mangal pandey only his looks were good that added to the miserabilty of the movie....
now over to tam heroes... the icon MGR was again like raj kapoor .. a technical expert, great story teller but not a very powerful actor...
The stalwart sivaji ganesan is known for overacting at times.. in Motor Sundaram pillai his role was very well executed but his roles in vietnam veedu and Gauravam were kind of comically horrible!!!!! these roles are spoofed quite often....
Rajni again was showcassed more on his styles than his acting.. he is a very good actor, if we see some of his earlier movies... but in ninaithale inikkum his role at times irritates a lot....then there was a muvee called pandian ( guess it was a disaster).. pandian is awful....
now over to the universal hero aka kamal ... he did a great job in some telugu movies and many of his movies are wonderful.... but hs roles in alavandhan, a coupel of characters in dasavatharam, his role in vikram, some aspects in varumaiyin niram sivappu, kakki sattai are all overdone...!!!
so what makes these greats overact.. if we observe closely, as one gets comfy with the type of role he.she plays, the tendancy to overact is more....some of the stalwarts who did a great job in mediocre roles too are Pran, Paresh Rawal, Om Puri, Amrish Puri, Naseeruddin shah, Nagesh, Shivakumar, ...

Siege ends

finally what went on in mumbai ends after 60 odd hours....now its time to introspect and decide what to do next. many say its intel failure and we shud ramp up intel... what do we mean by that? Many say home minister shud quit.. if he quits will all these stop?.. someof my colleagues even suggested that we should have an aoperation similar to operation wrath of god ( the plot for steven spielberg's Munich)... most voraciously the bolywood and mumbai high society people are yelling about internal security.. do they care? i can fot sure say that about 10-15 so called eminent people that i saw on TV yelling at politicians either do not vote or evade taxes or do not just care what goes arnd them... they might not even know who the person next door is... the irony is when teh terrorists landed in a koli wada ( fishermen's colony) some ladies were asking them who they are and whr they are from, later they informed police also.... can we expect something similar from the so called eminent high society filths?... we just consider our job done if we pay pur taxes.. but its also our job to take part in the election process and question people about their policies on all major areas... now we have RTI act as well.. we should demand asnwer regarding whats the overall plan now atleast at a high level to counter terror...
But this time around the IB did inform Maha police of a possible sea attack by lashkar in sep itself.. now why there was no action remains a mystery.. and whenevr we say anything to blame Intel , its safe cos no one from intel is gonna defend themselves... its just been over a decade we have been talking about intel before that they were virtually non existant... the failure ladies and gentlemen is not in intel ineptitude... its our failure to invest in HUMINT and over reliance on SIGINT... even the same problem has dogged CIA... HUMINT is human intelligence...so why are we not able to get folks... well one reason could be the nature of work and pay.. now with pay scales revised , we should see some people getting in... another factor is selection of appropriate people.. and training...earlier intel used to have local state police personnel on deputation... it was a lucrative deputation some years ago.. but now they are not getting enough ppl... we should go back to the ways as it was in the late 1940s early 50s and correct the basics... the use of technology should be enhanced... though intel is the defacto powerful poilce in the state and can even tap the phones of anyone w/o permission etc, they need to be given a bit of free hand in terms of anti-terror laws which enable the detention and questioning of suspects w/o charge.. why did we repeal POTA w/o a decent law to replace it??? is there a proper co-ordination betn the state poilce and intel as it once used to be?it seems the internal tension is also a bit to blame.. and do we have enough people in intel first? not sure .. there must be many vacancies when do we fill them train them? one of the biggest problem in India is be it any job the number of people wanting to work hard and rise through the ranks is very less.. everyone wants to get a sort of higher degree and become a manager... bet it finance or IT or police or whatsoever...the craze for quick buck is more than ever.. then why blame them alone? INTEL work ans system admin/support in IT are analogous .. they both are thankless jobs.. u are expected to be perfect all the time.. u wont be thanked for that but if something goes wrong u will be shafted....we should change our internal mindset if we are to become stronger as a nation... simply blaming polictians is not gonna get us anywhwre.. there was some sane politicans who supported teh national security act and by the grace of which we have NSG.. God has helped us .. so letus go ahead and build a stronger nation like this.. lets go out with a positive attitude... JAI HIND!!!!!

dastardly attack

What is going on in mumbai is an act of cowardice..... Best cops of mumbai have died and the city is under threat... Mumbai will rise back and make sure that the fuckers who are doing this get back a reply... but i cannot imagine that a few weeks ago i was in mumbai and was feeling very much at home....and i cant imagine whats hapening now.. some where there is a failure... i as a son of an ex intel officer cannot digest this ..... the media is spinning its own stories...as the police are fighting hard.. i really am not able to come to terms with the fact that many IPS officers have already laid down their lives... the very thought of this sends a chill on my spine and i am not able to sleep.. once we deal this, we should be in for tough anti terror laws and speedy punishments so that we show em that we are strong.. sea has been a threat and now its proved... the coast guard should be given more help to make sure that they patrol our waters more vigilantly... I am praying that this all comes to an end tonight very soon and we get into damage control,..... JAI HIND!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Back to pavilion

Its been 2 weeks since im back in pune… purpose being to heal my ruptured maxiliaty sinus….. at each sitting my doc asks” I hope u;ll be here for 2-3 months” and daily my client manager in Mumbai asks “ Hope u are getting better” .. suddenly so many ppl are asking so many questions.. the first real tasks was to stock and setup my kitchen … next one was to get a broadband connection .. boy its still tuff to get a broadband connection and it takes 12 days ..
India are rocking and piling the wooes on KP’s Enger land… sorry to see enger land loose so badly… but the aussies are crying badly after their mauling in India.. they are not magnanimous enough to accept that India is the only team to have troubled them so much over the last 10 yrs or so.. they just crib and call names at every player be it Indian or Lankan.. aussies suck… and to all hardcore aussie supporters here in India “SHAME ON YOU BUGGERS!!” J

In my time at Mumbai, I happened to read the sea of poppies as well as half of white tiger.. I cundt read the other half because I found it very boring.. not sure how it got the booker… on the other hadn sea of poppies in gripping.. it’s a heart moving narration of opium trade and dislocation of people to mareech dweep aka Mauritius………… the amount of research gone into the book itself has to fetch it an award.. lovely.. Amitav Ghosh has set a bar…. White tiger has brilliance but some how I found it highly negative … may be im too much Indian to accept the stereotypical portrayal of India as it is done by Mr Adiga….

I caught up with two tam movies… one of them raman thedia seethai is brilliant and the other much hyped Surya starrer varanam Aayiram is a dud.. It has an over dose of father son sentiments And romance.. and is boring, peppered with painfully long songs… somehow couldn’t enjoy the movie……… the main obstacle was the overdose of English dialogues and the slang used .. considering that a part is set in 70s -80s I am not sure if any father would have called his son Kiddo ( Perfect American slang).. especially in chennai where still Queen’s English is revered…. And many others reasons made me not enjoy the movie.. though yeah i like the base theme of father son relationship J

With a lot of assemnbly elections on, daily the Malegaon probe is being highlighted, the congress has got something to cheer about… hindu terror.. but this government has utterly failed to counter any form of terror… many people feel that the congress is blowing this trumpetto win votes… may be they have a point.. with Malegaon all over the place and Indian Mujahideen almost forgotten, NDTV featured a report on confessions and convictions of Mansoor Peerbhoy all of a sudden…

Suddenly i realize that im being hit by the crunch.. with Pakistan and Iceland gping broke, Japan in recession and india facing the heat, I dunno where to go he he…
Someone advised that I will go loony soon if I don’t take a vacation and suggested Goa or Gangtok as a destination.. I wud like to go to Guwahati, Shillong Aizawl.. but let me repair my sinus first …

Musings

so sep 6 has been a remarkable day for both the south asian neighbours india and pakistan...
india finally joins the NSG ending 34 yr of isolation... many feel its bad many feel its the biggest foreign policy ahievement since bangladesh..... well i am still confused, but i am sure that if we start getting the fuel, we can end our power shortages, take some time off and think of alternative source of power... and if it has a price tag to it so be it.... we will do nuke tests and see what they can do abt that... but for now , we need to end the power woes... sittting in mumbai, i really dont feel the pinch....but if yu go places like nagpur etc and further down in the villages you'll knw what power is... Gujarat is the only state in the country with no power shortage.. how did they do it... well we dont care its ruled by modi, america itself refuses visa for him we care only about secularism.. the communists, medha patkar , arundati roy etc will generate power for us......screw this liberal farcists.....i pray god that this deal helps us to fight our power woes in a better manner and may our industries and public benefit from this.......
I am not really thinking much about kashmir or orissa violence as its expected :-)....
During the recent bihar floods lalu announced that nitish fail kar gaya.. well F**k u lalu tum toh 15 saal tak fail hote rahe.. kuch ukhada nahi ab kya nasihath de rahe ho.... its a god sent opportunity that railways is doing well and u re reaping the credits else ur political career wud have been well over .......................
Coming back to N Deal... we will have to wait and watch what the future holds for us.....
Pakistan has got a new president....mr 10% percent will now get a lion's share in all the contracts :).. many claim that he lived in the shadow of Ms Bhutto and is a semi lunatic after his 11 yrs in jail... ah is it,, we are used to seeing lunatics governing countries... and we have seen the worst of bhutto so what can this guy do to harm pakistan or india... one must acknowledge his ability to bring himself through from a playboy zemindar kid to a dummy husband and then to a much sympathised widower to Musharaff's nemisis and now the most powerful man in all of pakistan.... what will sharif do now.. lets watch as i think he will end up in jail or go to saudi again :)... Obama says that Pakistan is using its aid against India, his mate Joey Bidden is pushing a vill to give 15 billion over a decade to pakistan..!!! Americans are for sure crazy... and they trying to say Russia is aggressive .. well if you guys can invade iraq for no reason except ur thirst for oil, Russia can show off some aggression while you are trying to set up missile shields in its backyard....Russia is still all powerful and US better shut its traps rather than start a cold war all over again ......i simply love Putin for the way he made his country stand up after the Yeltsin era debacles.... Putin could have amended the constitution and stayed on as president if he is a dictator as claimed by LIBERAL WESTERN MEDIA!!!! no he has other plans.. he chose to play a second fiddle to his one time protege.....In india almost 50 yrs ago, Rajaji becme a CM of Madras state after his stint as Guv General of India (president)... and how do you describe that ?? a hunger for power or a duty towards his party and state? why cant we see Putin is trying to get back the glory for Russia and he is flexing its muscles only when needed and not needlessly like US.....

This olympics has been a great one for the UK as well, for the first time in years they beat Aussies in the medal count and have their wn best count in the 1008 yr history.. wow way to go before you get the olympics to London.....I would definitely be thr in 2k12 to cheer you guys and see the newham stadium....!!!

disappeared

so here we are after a long gap again... why wass the gap... well life had a very interesting turn and i had to come to Mumbai leaving all my luxurious setup in pune alone... the first 3 weeks were gerat with me living in a serviced apartment in the 19th floor overlooking the worli seaface... beleive me i never crossed 12th flr before :) 19 was too much for me.....

then the trials and tribulations of local trains... man for this sole reason i rejected mumbai 5 yrs ago as a place of posting but as fate would have it i am getting pounded in the same trains daily that too in the ever crowded western line betn andheri n lower parel.... even had to pass through the epak time dadar crowd .. boy what an experience... you need not move, the crowd flow will take you like a river carries a log ...............
have been literally cut off from the net and friends and cousins are happy i guess without me around... but i ve literally had enough of this shifting and want to just tsay on in one place for atleast the next one yr....
Mumbai has let me shed of my increasing lethargy that pune has bequeathed me... i am feeling light after shedding extra 2 kilos and fighting to geta seat in a first class compartment is more funny than any other game.... i love mumbai just because they treat a sandwich with so reverence... its not just a snack as it is in other cities or its not just food as in the western countries... a sandwich is much holier that that.. it varies accoring to your need of a bite or a meal.... needless to say about wada pavs and pav bhajis......life is beautiful as the palate is satisfied with such divine preparations... i have been shuttling to pune so have not got time to roam abut.. on the other hand dad n mum are roaming freely.. to srirangam, kumbakonam, ahobilam where not.... one of ma cusins has just had a kid and the other is in the family way...
Srihari ( ma bros kid) has just celebrated his 1st anniversary on earth with a lot of gifts and is expecting one from chitappa.....

all this happened and i am still unable to fathom how 2 months flied and when will i get back to ma bastion.....

relegion spirituality et al

"Spiritual but not religious means not subscribing to something just because its professed in a religionor not stopping with a religion to explore the divine connection,to seek out the ideals of spirituality outside the limits of my religion.To be non - religious means to do something or to refrain from somethingnot because God will be angry with me for doing so.It is to choose to do somehting,because i like to do it.It is not to pray for favours but to identify a relationship with a supreme beinghigher than a master slave relationship.It is to question about God,analyse and to have the right to accept or reject.To do things that will be regarded as blasphemy by religion just because they dont conform to set practices.To interact with God outside religionTo engage with humanity and to love and care for humans outside religionand its guidelnes and rules.It is the freedom to choose.To take the responsibility to imbibe discipline to oneself and to strive to become a better human being within our limitations ,rather than dependng on a holy book for that."

This is a blog by a friend aand fellow netizen CVR
http://simplycvr.blogspot.com/2008/06/spiritual-but-not-religious.html
I know CVR for the past year and a half .... Like most friends these days we have me only in net and not in person.... CVR is a very serious person as far as penning his thoughts are concenrned.... His tamil blog is even better
http://cvrintamil.blogspot.com/
so do i agree with what CVR has said?

Yes and no

Yes cos spirituality is needed... and he has captured it fairly...

No.. Cos his post leads me to beleive that being relegious is out of fear....
no i dont buy that .. you can choose to follow a relegion or a set of ideals for yourself and yet appreciate those who follow something different...
how is that possible? by understanding a relegion thoroughly you can align yourself to a path ..
My granny (mum's mother) is a strict vaishnavaite... but she appreciates teh dediation andprinciples of all sects and even islam ... her hubby, my grand pa, was non relegious as long as he was in the service .. but after retirement he went deep into relegion and is now nearly a fundamentalist...(he he) .. same is teh case with some others...
But patti has set examples which is difficlt to follow.. how did she acheieve this... well she reads a lot .. her reading habit has made sure that she read teh original manuscripts and understtod her relegion.. the thing she wants for herself... same habit has ensured that she appreciates all...

So whats the conclusion.. naah im not making any this time....

Flawed masterpiece

Kamalhassan has come out with is latest mega venture dasavatharam
Apart from the facts that he does 10 roles and the controversy regarding govindaraja perumal and kulothunga chola, the film has nothing worthwhile…..

Comin to the story of Govindaraja perumal.

Lord Govindaraja (incarnation of lord vishnu) had his abode in chidambaram , also a vey famos shaivate centre. It is said that the King Kulothunga chola , a shaivate fanatic threw the lord in sea and the lord was somehow retrieved and ket at tirupati…

Many also say that to stop the shaivate vaishnavaite feud, the king established a township called raja mannargudi and built sri rajagopala swamy temle and asked all vaishanvaites to make it their centre and stop feuding at Chidambaram… The rajagopala swamy temple has inscriptions that speak of kulothunga’s contributions.

SO it is really hard to believe that such a king would have thrown the lord into sea.. it appears to be an exaggeration of facts by some aggrieved vaishnavites.. Kamal has managed to dramatize it with his own imagination.. the filming is excellent but his imagination seems naïve.. one really cant stomach the fatc that a priest wud have managed to fend of 10-1 men ofkings army single handedly . simply made a mock of history my including commercial aspects of heroism

Another fact to mention is Kamal has seen controversy a lot in hey ram and virumaandi… but this time he has attracted mneedless controversy as the historic ection of the film has no relevance to the plot . the relevance explained in the movie has no base…

The movie tries to address issues like biological warfare, illegal sand quarrying and castetism all in one go. Thus has cme up with a hotch potch of disconnected sequences.
The film is like a collage and does not keep the audience at the edge of he seats…

Movies like Hey Ram and Abe Sivam had a very strong storyline that strengthened Kamal’s efforts. But in daavatharam , though Kamal’s effort is brilliant the story makes it look ordinary…

Adding to the boredom is Kamal’s rhetoric of atheism and stereo typing brahminsim
His repeated tirades at the community gives the impression that he is feeling guilty about his origins….. And it also makes one assume that he is taking hindusim for granted ..
It is hard to imagine if he has the guts to showcase islam in such a manner J

Ah ah im just imagining here not criticizing him… My point is creative liberty should not be taken for granted and once should not cross hisher limits in the name of liberty
What on eath is mallika doin in this movie? And what abt jayaprada or that role of the sadar singer…
In the end it just seems that with the help of prosthetics and his acting abilities kamalhas triedto over come the thespian late VC Ganesan’s (Sivaji) marvelous attempt in Navarathri. Personally feeling Kamal has tried more versatile things than the late actor but in this attempt he has no done enough… Navratri scores over dasavatharam …
The vigour which Kamal wants to thrust his atheist views makes him no better than a fundamentalist doing his propaganda
Mr Kamal you have every freedom to chosse your belief but the way in which you thrust it and try to prove the people who think other wise as fools is not the way…

Underdogs!!

We all like supporting the winning team…. Do we really cheer for the losers or for that matter the underdogs? We do cheer for home country albeit its an underdog.. Viz. every Indian would cheer for India (except of course some morons who think they are aussie citizens and cheer for em no matter what). So most of us in India or for that matter any country that usually does not do that well in sports are used to bashing losers and cheering only winners… Take the case of EPL as an example, I have seen scores of my friends and acquaintances following EPL like crazy and cheering for clubs as if they were their home clubs.. Millions in India cheer for Arsenal or Chelsea or ManU or Liverpool…Rarely do I see a person cheering for a reading or tottenham hotspur or Bolton or West Ham for that matter… Reading and west ham are two teams that almost were relegated last year. During my stay in London, I lived closer to Boleyn, the home of West Ham united. Every Sunday when there was a home match scored f West Ham fans rush to cheer for their team with team jerseys and mufflers .. A guy won 2 million pounds in a lotto and shared some 70 K pounds with the club to build some infra at the Boleyn ground (Wow)….my client manager religiously cheered for Manchester city (another underdog) and used to say that I know they’ll ose against big names as they don’t have much money like a Chelsea or arsenal etc bt still I cheer for em… Now this sort of loyalty is amazing. With our own IPL in cricky starting, at first I felt that the Jaipur team is the underdog, I followed their games and found that they are doing pretty well, but alas sachin’s Mumbai is getting bludgeoned.. even Hyd has just won one match….and Bangalore is not doing too well either… especially they have a reputation of having a test team for T20 outings… so I have decided to cheer all the underdogs , especially Mumbai as they have not yet won a single match…. Now that makes me a follower of 7 out of the 8 teams… the only team I don’t like is the Punjab 11 as I am not a great fan of either yuvi , sangakkara or sreesanth … for that mater even Preity zinta is not gud enuf to cheer for…and as a kid o the road said today win or lose cheer for Sachin !!! Whoever wins IPL lets start cheering underdogs and adjust to our team getting defeated.. this will ensure that we will not seethe in anger the next time India gets knocked out from any big tournament in any sport…. After all Winning isn’t everything…