2008 - Year in review

I have not blogged on this topic ever, but it does look like a good idea, given that a blog is really also an archive of thoughts to reflect on later reading. So here I go. This entry is about my life in 2008, so - those looking for a global events review might give this a skip.
This year has been a pretty memorable one for me, for various reasons. Some developments in personal life that my friends will know of - are certainly for the good. But let's not go into that. Let me focus on other aspects of my life. Let me do a month by month tracking to check if my memory serves me well on this year till date.
January -

• Got really health conscious thanks to an overdose of ready to eat I was consuming in Australia. Was glad to be back in India in late January.
• Watched my first grandslam tennis event - the Australian open. Watching Sania-Hesh in action with Sumant was very exciting. The centre court experience was a letdown though.
• Went to the casino for the first time ever. Enjoyed playing roulette. Time flies in a casino. Let me tell you that.
• G's wedding. Quite an event. Probably one of my happiest moments this year. Flying back in time for his muhurtam sent my pulses racing and made me feel very important :)

February

• A very memorable trip to IIMB. Quite a nice way to start the month.
• I only remember some good times with . Watched a lot of movies - Billa, TZP (second time onwards).

March

• Remember facing a few problems at work, and a lot of hardwork. Quite a bit of soul searching work wise.
• Anjathey. My best movie watching experience of the year. Remember being quite stunned watching it, first with G and then with Mad and Mk.
• A Bangalore trip with Ven, Mad and Kr adding some great times. Very insightful fundaes gained.

April

• A very memorable trip to Pune and Bombay. The night with friends in a bungalow turned hotel in Pune was an experience in itself. Bombay with G and family was quite interesting. Remember making my first resolution to buy Scotland yard at home during this trip.
• IPL. Remember getting hooked to the concept and watching the first game in a CCD in Pune. Watched 6 IPL CSK games in Chennai. Enjoyed it thoroughly. Had a long and interesting discussion on IPL with GN.

May

• Memorable start to the month with GN.
• Got into reading a couple of books, Kiterunner was quite a nice experience.
• More IPL and a lot more time pass watching it.
• Watched Hazaaron Khwahishen Aisi somewhere in this time.
• A great evening over coffee and dinner at Cedar.

June

• Had some health niggles around this time, did not enjoy the month at all. Became diet conscious though and that was a key takeaway.
• Had some tough times at work as well, quite the low point of the year.
• A below par trip to Bombay added to this month's low-key nature.

July

• The beginning of a new chapter in life :)
• Quite a few changes in my life, and operation fitness took its first baby steps.

August

• Remember getting into the Super Singer routine big time now. Wonderful times with Super Singer and the subsequent discussions with BK and Vat.
• Got much more in touch with Music around this time of the year. Wonderful times indeed. IR reinvented himself in my life.
• Rock On happened sometime around now. A great experience.

September

• The 14th hogged all the limelight, dont remember much else in this month. G's trip was good fun for all of us.
• Ranga made the trip to India around this time. Was great having him around. A morning near the consulate as we waited for C to get her Visa was old times revisited. A walk on the Cathedral Road, discussing movies, life and where we have been all these years was great. And yeah - the tiffin at Saravana Bhavan discussing IR in Pallavi Anupallavi. Awesome.

October

• My mind goes blank as I think of this month. The beginning of my most satisfying times at work might be the only highlight. I just continued the routine built over the previous months.
• One bad bout of fever is the only other thing worth a mention.

November

• A memorable concert in Music Academy with BK and family. Quite a wonderful experience listening to Srini and AS and Chinmayi and Naresh Iyer.

December

• The season. TM Krishna. Bombay Jayashri. Sanjay. Maargazhi Raagam. Dwijavanthi. Hamsanadham. Canteens. Rava Pongal. Coffee/ Tea. Bliss.
• BK's wedding. Great times.

May god bless all of you this new year. Have a great and productive year. In Chinmayee style, God speed to all you good people.

Children of Heaven - Highly recommended

I watched "Children of Heaven" (Iranian movie in Farsi with English subtitles. Directed by Majid Majidi). One of the best movies I have seen in the last few years. Taare Zameen Par looks SO inspired by this movie. The simplicity, the music, the innocence and genuineness in the children who play the lead roles are the movie's biggest pluses. This movie treats lower middle class families in a very realistic and positive fashion without ever treading the sympathetic line. The positivity and energy in the movie is so refreshing and is sure to bring a smile to anyone's face. Without revealing any more about this movie - I share the movie's google video links. PLEASE WATCH IT.

Link to Part 1
Link to Part 2

Vaaranam Aayiram

I don't write reviews, give movies star ratings and all that, and I am not going to attempt it here either. I couldn't resist this entry given how much I looked forward to this movie. Period. So here goes.
I have decided to list down what I liked/ did not like, after watching the movie today in Kamala Theater in Chennai, rather than follow any other structured way of writing this piece.

Positives -

• The OUTSTANDING segment between Suriya and Sameera Reddy. So what if it is "filmy," I loved it. The scene in the train is beautiful, Sameera is charming and the scene outside Sameera's apartment when Surya offers to move out has got to be my favorite.
• Authentic art direction and choreography - The Simran - Old surya segment has outstanding art direction. "Mundinam" is a joy to watch due to the props and sets. Gautam has handled this song very intelligently to give the authentic 70s feel. Again, the choreography in "Yethi yethi" is SO SO SO similar to Anjali's "something" or Agni natchatram's "Raja". (As acknowledged by Gautam Menon in one interview. I am not bad afterall!) The song is complete in being a tribute to those times with its rain dance segment - the signature of the 80s songs. Very enjoyable indeed - both these songs.
• The dad-son chemistry - Ok, it is slightly idealistic and full of "nuni-naakku-english" but it is pretty much from the heart and I could see the genuineness in it. It connected with me. The image of a young kid surya looking at his dad when their family poses for a snap is a brilliant director's touch to summarize the hero worship integral to any dad - son relationship. Right through the movie - I loved the chemistry as much as the intent to pay an honest tribute to dads.
  
• The young kid rescue mission and the re-recording in that segment. Very racy, supported by good music. The Kaakka kaakka chase scenes were truly memorable - and having set such a standard, Gautam does not disappoint in this segment.
• Finally - SURYA. Period. Watch the movie for him.
  

Negatives -

• The length of the movie. Alright, the movie is intended to be on its own terms. But it does sag and has some unneccessary segments that could have been chopped off. The journalist rescue mission, the gaana song are the most obvious waste of time segments in the movie. No value added by these portions.
  
• Surya - Divya portions. The scenes with this pair pale in comparison to those between Surya - Simran and Surya - Sameera. The "anal mele" song disappointed me, I expected more given the placement of the song when the audience are bound to get uneasy on their seats. It did not justify being present in the movie at all.
• The finish. It doesn't pack the punch I kind of expected. Simran's gospel speech in the end is average at best. I expected a more poignant ending.

Overall - Given my very high expectations as I entered this film, I still came out satisfied. There were a lot of portions to feel happy about as an avid Gautam menon and Tamil cinema fan. It could have been better - and that feeling is sometimes hard to take given the potential of the creator and actor on view. I will watch it again for its good moments.

Vetti chat.

S: nothing da. have to send some "%%%%%%%%%%" briefs away to ffffff today... my &&&&&&&& project seems to be coming around well.. growing &&&&&&&&& business xx% faster than Rest of yyyyyyy :)
4:05 PM
me: outstanding4:08 PM
my "Reduce mobile bill" project has also partially succeeded
S: idhellaam pee! uncalled for projects these :P
me: it has reduced by 6% to finish at Rs. 4600 4:09 PM
it has to be noted that in the month ending 2/10 it had increased by 14% to 4900..4:10 PM this is very blog worthy.
S: lol.
S: this reduction is misleading, as i would attribute bulk of the reduction to external events like the recipient's sister's marriage... :P4:11 PM
me: bingo. vaango pongo illa.4:15 PM
and also cost cutting activities like deliberate cutting of phone calls by the caller when it exceeds a number of minutes and blaming it on the network when the callee calls back4:16 PM
S: outstanding. i shall keep that in mind :P
me: pls to exercise it on others and not on the owner of the trademark4:17 PM
S: on the contrary, i will need to keep these things in mind only wen the aforementioned caller bothers to call.4:18 PM
me: you might encounter a situation where the intention to call might be blamed on the caller's neural network4:19 PM
S: this is the worst exhibition of verbosity that meant nothing :P4:20 PM
me: best.4:21 PM this might endanger verbiageold practices upheld by M/S NowNeat, MugCase et al4:22 PM
S: .
me: .

Cricket trivia

Was kinda jobless when I got enthu to do some queries on Statsguru at Cricinfo and I have come up with the following interesting facts -
1. How many of VVS Laxman's 48 test match scores of 50 or above (35 fifties and 13 hundreds) as on 30th Oct 2008 contain a sixer?
None! His highest score that contains a six is 44
2. Sticking to VVS - How many of his top 4 scores in Test cricket have come against Australia?
All four! and 5 of his top 6 scores are also against the Aussies.
3. From 2001, How many boxing day test match hundreds has Mathew Hayden scored?
Six! The only year he missed out was 2004, when his top score in the test against Pak was 56. He averages 102.4 in the MCG from 2001.
4. Hayden has scored 17 of his 30 hundreds to date in just 4 grounds.
MCG - 6, SCG, Gabba - 4, Adelaide - 3. This I consider as quite staggering. And in Australian venues - he has 100s in all venues but Darwin.
5. A strange coincidence is that Ponting too has scored 17 of his 36 test hundreds in the same 4 grounds :P (Adelaide, SCG - 5, Gabba - 4, MCG - 3). No wonder they are so strong at home.
6. Sticking to Ponting - 24 of his 36 hundreds have been scored in 4 calendar years (year wise split 2002-5, 2003-6, 2005-6, 2006-7). Quite amazing runs of form in those years.
7. When a similar analyis was performed for Hayden, it was found that he too has scored 21 of his 30 hundreds in 4 calendar years. But what is really striking is the fact that, Hayden and Ponting together have scored 11 hundreds in each of 2002, 2003, 2005 (2002 - Hayden 6, Ponting 5; 2003 - Hayden 5, Ponting 6; 2005 - Hayden 5, Ponting 6). This was and still is truly a pair of devastating batsmen, much like McGrath and Warne.

Will post more as I find interesting stuff...

Staying up till 3 am listening to music...

... is an extremely high pleasure exercise. I must make it a point to create musical late nights on a regular basis. It used to be the lifeline of my IIMB existence and to a certain extent even last year after I started working. What joy! Bliss max!!! Anyway - late realization indeed, but point noted.

Penmaane Sangeetham paadavaa

What a song. Outstanding bass guitars. Excellent support to what is a flowing, wonderful and happy song. Perfect for those in a mood to appreciate the emotion. Excellent strings in the BGM and the typical 80s Ilayaraja humming sections. Unobtrusive and free flowing singing by S Janaki and SPB adds to the effect. Happiness all round on listening to the song.
See if you guys can download it, in case you haven't listened to it enough. Thanks to Radio City, in its new avtar claiming "Namma city, Namma radio". Indeed.

"Bad"-ting woes

Looks like my batting skills (if ever I had them) are on the run downhill...
0(1) - caught at cover thanks to a woeful miscue .
1(4) - bowled attempting a swipe across the line.
5(7) - caught behind in what is my only regret-less dismissal.

These have been my returns in my last 3 innings in tennis ball cricket. Whatever happened to the run machine that I was a few years back. Hmmmm....

Random observation

Busy work days are stressful, at all times. But free work days are stressful too, if they are timed badly. No new insight in this. Yet, blogworthy. So I think. Here comes a long weekend I don't really welcome. K to it.

Random thoughts

1. I had blogged 4 years back about Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore's achievements (It was a young Harish blogging his opinions away then. Can't imagine such an entry now). I really don't use the blog for covering my opinions on current affairs anymore, but still, PRIDE ARE THERE in Bindra's achievements. For posterity's sake here goes a tribute to Abhinav Bindra for his awesome achievement.
2. Atthini Chitthini (Tenali) is a great song. Completely out of the world and unique. The guitars in the start rock. Memories of those times where Girish and me used to listen to it came back. Good stuff.
3. Super singer on Vijay TV Monday- Wednesday evenings 9 pm - Watch it. Great timepass and some seriously good songs get thrown back into my consciousness.
4. Jaane Tu - is good fun, but one should watch it with the right company to enjoy it better :), as the rest of the crowd in INox demonstrated.
5. Badrinath is in the Indian team. Finally. Good luck to him.

List of movies to watch - Poi Solla Porom (Khosla ka Ghosla's remake which incidentally will also do just fine, I haven't watched it either), Aamir, Azhagiya Theeye, VaaraNam Aayiram.

Blog

This blog has served its purpose. Now I realize. Good.

Girish

has not changed. His blogs reflect him, and accurately. His blog archives for 2005 are an example. I relived that journey again through those entries, and god bless him for having retained his identity all along, even past the storm that was IIMA. Lesson re-inforced. Life is good. God bless Girish. My friend. Philosopher. Guide. This one is for you mate.

Musical rediscoveries on a sleepy midnight

BK and me had this conversation on midnight today, and it really proved to be a wonderful stressbuster for both of us. But more importantly, it also unearthed some songs which we had taken for granted and dismissed as "GREAT songs, but we have listened to them enough, haven't we?". But thanks to a focus on 3 singers who we think are among the best in Indian cinema, some of these songs deserved yet another re-visit. Our findings are presented below.
1. Harini. The most under-utilized singer in Tamil Cinema. She is in the opposite end of the spectrum to Mirchi Suchi. If Suchi is the most "Prachodhaka" singer, she has to be the most "Saathvika" singer. Thanks to BK for this classification. She has been my favorite young female singer for ages now, yet - her outstanding contributions to the following songs will bring a calming influence to any life.

• Kumari (Anniyan) - A short cameo in the middle and the end. But she does stand up to the genius that is Shankar Mahadevan and more than holds her own. Precision!
• Sonnaalum Kaetpadhillai (Kadhal Virus) - In what has to be among the three most beautiful romantic melodies of ARR, "Soft" and "Lilting" reaches new heights. It's an all time classic, thanks to Harini.
• Unnaale Unnaale (Unnaale Unnaale) - What is an otherwise average song reaches new heights due to this stud. CLASS= Harini!

2. Malaysia Vasudevan

• Aagaya Gangai (Dharmayuddham) - We were literally pitting Ilayaraja's outstanding music against Janaki against this guy to see who wins in the end when we were listening to this song. And NOONE won! Respect! This speaks volumes about the guy. His controlled singing is outstanding in many songs, none more than this excellent composition.

3. Janaki

• Ooru sanam (Mella thirandhadhu kadhavu) - The hands-down best ever female solo I have listened to. And Janaki is my all time favorite female singer. I bow to thee.
• Thaalatudhe vaanam (Kadal MeengaL) - Listen to this N Times! Don't miss it. I really do not want to say anything.

Such is the richness in talent in India. I salute!

Ishq Ada hai

Verbalizing the flurry/ tempest of emotions I go through when I listen to this song (listen number 8 onwards) is a delightful challenge I am embracing now.
The song starts with those spanish/ european feel guitars where Parul Mishra, my current crush makes her entry with a teasing adha haiiii, sazaa haiiiii. (Hi, would you like to check me out?)
Then she explains herself with some dignity, and the chorus in some mysterious western language all say "She is the womaan, check her out!"
And then she starts playing hard to get. I am obviously attracted to her, which means I play Bond and she plays the Bond girl - the song is full of intrigue in these minutes, and she just teases and traumatizes you into lust and love and what not. Soon, the sad melancholy takes over and when one is in mad and deep love trying to forget her, her aalaaps are the nightly doses of her. A perfect BGM to depict months of missing her. And soon I go totally mad of her and she says - "Dude, Ishq gada hai, Ishq ka rang Judaaa haiiiiiiiii" when you pass out after one drink too many....
The next day morning it is a peaceful reassurance from her - Dude, Ada hai, saza hai, dua hai....Keep waiting, I will be right back.

To-do list

Here is an attempt at a quick to-do list.

• Need to resume reading books soon. Attempting lying down with a book in hand before I go to bed. It has only been partially successful.
• Need to create an English music collection after having lost all of it when I deleted that folder before I left for Aus.
• Need to fill that New external hard disk with F.R.I.E.N.D.S and impressive music and some movies as well. Not getting the enthu for it though.
• Need to start playing badminton/ cricket soon.
• Need to stop just Gmailing/ Orkutting in the net.

Quick Life entertainment update

Here is a real quickie, that only recommends and doesn't review.
Songs -
1. Yeh Honsla - Dor. Tags for this song - Lilting, Hope, Rustic, fantasy village
2. Happy new year - Kuruvi. Tags for this song - Yogi B (actually just Yo), funny, creative
3. Yaaro Manadhile - Dhaam Dhoom. Tags - Fraud Pseud, Funnily hummable, Curiously addictive, Mockable
Movie Digest -
1. Hazaaron Khwahishen Aisi - Tags - Stud max, informative, riveting, stylish
2. Anjathey - Tags - Raw, slick, powerful, Visually stud, favorite tam movie list
3. Manorama Six feet under - Tags - Gripping, over-rated, recommended
Book Digest -
1. The Kite Runner - Tags - Stud, Moving, Informative, Gripping, Well written, Farsi-Urdu-Arabic usage studness

IPL Trends - Part 2 of 2

Here are the observations on the other four teams, as a continuation to the previous post.
Kolkata -

• On the face of it, Kolkata's strategy in the auction seems to mirror that of Hyderabad with the focus on entertainers and explosive batsmen. However, Kolkata's focus on marketability of the players is also obvious - Ponting, Ganguly, Ishant, Shoaib, Gayle, Agarkar - and I guess it is to do with Shahrukh's persona and intent that these guys ended up being taken for high prices by Kolkata.
• In terms of Chemistry - Kolkata seems to have made a few blatant errors, Ganguly's equation with Murali Kartik or the lack of it is a known fact, Shoaib is not really the team man Ganguly would have looked for, and Ponting is not really the guy Ganguly will be most comfortable leading. It was a joke seeing Ponting set Kartik's field when he came in to bowl as late as the 11th over in Chennai.
• Unless Ganguly leads by example and focuses on the team spirit, culture etc. this might end up being a gallery of stars who underachieve as a collective unit. I dont think marketability alone will guarantee financial feasibility in the long run. It however helps that Kolkata as a franchise could break even the earliest given the 120000 capacity of Eden Gardens, and that the fans are known to be the most partisan in India.

Mumbai -

• Another team that played it strange in the auction. However judgemental it sounds, the choice of overseas and Indian players seem to be governed by their compatibility with Sachin, given that Sachin is not the most authoritative captain in the fray. The focus seemed to be on getting "team-men" when it came to recruiting senior foreign players (Jayasuriya, Pollock, Bravo). Bombay was one of the few teams (Mohali being the other) that invested in young, relatively unknown foreign talent. Clearly, the team wants to build a strong case for the second or third edition, rather than go all out in the first year. Sachin has to do a Warne and groom this team with inputs from Jayasuriya and Pollock - and given the youth in hand, one might see Bombay improving with every match and they might be a team to look out for in the seasons to come. It would be interesting to see if there is a distinct culture and team spirit being developed gradually.

Mohali -

• The team whose strategy is not clear to me. Yuvraj is not exactly captaincy material, and the team is not built for him or anything like that. They seem to have recruited glamourous, marketable guys in the first auction (Lee, Sangakkara, Sreesanth) but have recruited young international stars who provide utility for low prices in the second auction (Marsh, Pomersbach, Hopes, Katich (I am not sure which auction he came in)) - these choices seem to be governed by Tom Moody's presence at the helm. Overall, the team seems to be balanced with strong local bowlers (Chawla, VRV Singh, Pathan, Powar) and promising local batsmen (Karan Goel, Srivastava). It would be interesting to track this team's progress.

Chennai - (I know Girish is eagerly waiting for this one, here we go...)

• Chennai's buys in the auction seem to mirror final selections into IIM. Guys who have made it are those who would have been in the shortlist of atleast 4 other teams. (Parthiv Patel, Raina, Oram, Hayden, Hussey, Dhoni, Fleming to name a few.). Chennai seems to have bought solid candidates who are "fail-safe". The better part of their strategy is that they have also invested in a few other cricketers of GOOD potential and utility (Badrinath, Morkel) and a lot of local young exciting talent. Chennai has to play as Dhoni's unit and as long as Dhoni is able to lead the team from the front and foster good spirit and unity, Chennai should be a strong contender. I see a couple of bowling chinks being ironed out when the transfer window opens, and a fresh investment in a few bankable stars and a couple of new faces.

That's it from me guys...

IPL Team trends - Part 1 of 2

I have restrained myself from blogging about cricket primarily because Cricket opinions are all over the place, and I do not really want my blog to be a "What do you think will happen in the match today?" or "Should Sachin play today?" kind of place. Having said that, I still post this IPL entry - after some of what I discussed with Ganesh the other day seemed too interesting to not talk about.
We were having a discussion on emerging trends with respect to each team and also on whether the auction - the way it panned out for each team was random or were there any patterns to the auction. I am now partly convinced that each team had clear motives to pick the kind of players they ended up buying and that these choices will hopefully pave the way for some very different team cultures and reputations as IPL reaches its second or third seasons. I hereby present our observations on each team -
Bangalore -

• All the world has been critical of its penchant for taking test match players - what it does hide is that Rahul Dravid could have looked for players with proven CVs. Such players could turn out to be reliable bets who would eventually groom the young brigade in Bangalore while also performing well in crunch situations.
• Picture this - while Chanderpaul, Kallis, Misbah, Dravid and Jaffer are not really big hitters - I am sure they will be the kind of guys (if you add Boucher to it) any captain would look for in big games.
• I see them as enablers of a young brigade, and I see Bangalore having a great team spirit and in the years to come - the team that is the Italy of Football - strategy kings.

Hyderabad -

• Flair, entertainment, explosive power, crowd pulling - these seem to be the buzzwords. Deccan Chronicle seems to have gone into an overdrive to pick the players that would serve as great ambassadors to drive its sales and branding. As a team - I still see it packing enough punches (Gibbs, Symonds, Gilchrist, Afridi) to do well. Thankfully - they have invested enough in good local players, but again they seem to go by entertainment value and buzz - Rohit Sharma and RP Singh are hot picks in any list. They could well turn out to be the Real Madrid of the IPL if they keep performing and keep the cash registers ringing.

Delhi -

• The team that I think has invested the smartest. There are enough patterns to conclude that this team wants to be the choker of opposition with its solidity. McGrath, Asif, Sangwan, Maharoof, YoMahesh, Amit Mishra is a solid and varied bowling attack and it is the team rich in its fundamentals. They have interestingly picked a solid batting line up with a lot of good local talent. This team wont suffer much from attrition and has a GOOD selling proposition in terms of attracting crowds (Gambhir, Sehwag, Dhawan, Rajat Bhatia, Mithun Manhas are all Delhi ranji players). It did help that Delhi are the Ranji champions though. I see this team as being a ManU of cricket with enough all round ability, solidity and pedigree to serve as a bastion of solidity and flair in the future. GMR seems to play cricket like its construction business - a strong focus on solidity and foundations.

Jaipur -

• Shane Warne's team - He clearly wants to build this team as the quintessential unit. The team is full of young talent who are raring to go. The captain calls all the shots, even the international players are not the kinds who will do their own thing. They all seem to chip in as per the captain's mandate. I see Gerrard in Warne and a lot of Liverpool in Jaipur. The conservative spending seems to be strategic given that Jaipur is not going to generate revenue to the same scale as say a Kolkata or a Chennai. And they have clearly chosen to invest in bright young stars (Taruwar Kohli, Shane Watson, Yusuf Pathan, Pankaj Singh) and enable these guys to literally grow with the team. This is a team very close to my heart. My best wishes to Warnie and I sincerely hope his inspiration, tact and vision serve his team well in the years to come. Emerging Media seems to be a fine name for the company that has backed this team.

Part 2 coming next.

Please feel free to voice your views on the same.

Radio

One of the biggest sources of happiness for me these days is derived from driving in the road listening to the radio. I consider myself privileged to be living in a city where I understand the local language, know quite a bit about its culture and most critically - enjoy the city's music. The buzz of a new day greets you in the morning - and aptly so. Tuning into Radio One's (94.3) breakfast show with Suchi is a tonic for me early in the morning. Her voice, delivery, class and charm are unmatched in my opinion and she keeps me glued to that channel when songs are not playing. Humor is available in liberal quantities in some of the channels targeted at the masses - Suriyan FM (93.5) most notably and it is pretty enjoyable - and more enjoyable than I initially thought. However in terms of content and presentation of programmes in the morning session I am very impressed with Radio City (91.1). The morning hosts are extremely efficient with their words, and hardly rant on for more than necessary. Particularly impressive in her RJing is Chinmayee for Aaha FM (91.9), and I wonder if she has a role in selecting the songs played during her show - the songs are of a higher standard than other channels. Imagine - they played "Isayil thodangudhamma" at 9am one day.
Overall though there clearly seems to be a focus on peppy and popular music in the morning session - and that is reflected across Channels. Features like traffic update, city news add to the nativity - much to my delight. The evening programming is more content based and targets specific segments of the listeners. Of the evening programmes - Rahmania hosted by Rehana is impressive but gets too repetitive given the limited number of songs that can be played. Songs like Aadi paaru mangaatha can be heard almost daily - this makes it irritating at times.
Anyway - here is a quick summary of my rating for each channel :

Mirchi (98.3) seems to have lost the plot a bit. I do not get any associations attached to the channel these days. The RJs are not of the highest quality and the programming is not unique.

Aaha is good in patches with its Breakfast show with Chinmayee and the Rahmania show. The programme after 9 pm that plays Ilayaraja songs is very good too. Otherwise - its positioning doesn't seem too clear to me.

Suriyan FM is a truly mass channel and it scores with its clarity in positioning. They stick to playing popular music and are good at it.

Radio One seems to give me the feeling that Suchi is wasting her time there. It seems to be a mass channel like Hello FM 106.4, but might never match Suriyan FM.

Hello FM has a big problem. It has the channel at 106.4, and is too far from other channels. Also adding to the difficulty of getting there are some government channels and one english channel after 98.3 Mirchi. Programming and content are OK - it is another mass channel and nothing more.

BIG FM (92.7) is impressive. Its content seems to be engrossing. However, I need to listen to them a bit more to understand how they are different from Mirchi of the past.

The clear winner in my opinion is Radio City. They have a youth focus and are very sophisticated. Their programming on VDay was fabulous - the top 150 love songs were pretty spot on. The channel intelligently shares content with their other city stations and has English music hours and Hindi music hours like Aaha which also has a Hindi Music programme. All in all, an intelligent channel.

A unique song...

I have always felt the word "Unique" come to my mind whenever I have listened to "Sandhosha Kanneere" (Dil se re in Hindi). Rahman has never quite composed a song like that after that. In fact no composer has composed a similar song. It is the ultimate song of contrasts and contradictions. I have not been able to slot it into any genre of music. It has got some unbelievably energetic and full throated bursts where you get so breathless on even listening to it. And as if ARR required a break when singing with such intensity he suddenly mellows down to render such lilting and moving lines "Kanneere, sandhosha Kanneere....". There is one total "yekkam" and "parental sublime love" when he sings that "Penne, penne, pesaa penne" lines. Even the BGMs in the song are totally unique, especially the guitar bits in the second BGM that are so contradicted by those booming drums. Its almost like the two layers of music even within a BGM seem to contest each other's feel, leave alone the contrast between parts of the song. The visuals also puzzle me, with dancing kids and random people celebrating and so on.
The only part of the song that has been repeated by ARR in his subsequent and previous films is that delightful overlap between the chorus and ARR's restrained singing in the pallavi that comes after the second charanam. The chorus so beautifully sings the lines ("Sandhosha kanneere" onwards) in lag with ARR's vocals. This has been repeated most memorably in Theendai (it got released very close to Dil se - Another trait of ARR that seems to be observeable, he seems to repeat a particular technique/ fad he likes in his works in a particular time. Enough of the digression though. Anyway, Theendai had very little to do with chorus singers, so the digression stops here). Actually, a single major scoring point of ARR when compared to Ilayaraja is his taste in Chorus singers. If only Ilayaraja's chorus singers did not have that jarring and irritating tinge in them! If I were to indulge in a digression where I mention the song in which I most enjoyed ARR's chorus singers it has to be Madhuraiku pogaadhadi. ("Karpoora kannigaiye vaaraai" and so on - reaching a peak in "Nee indira maharaaniye" , beautiful rendition there!)
All in all, coming back to Sandhosha kanneere - it was one hell of a song that totally refreshed my spirits after a long work day. Listening to it in Big 92.7 FM actually made me experience the radio station's tagline "Kekkalaam, pesalaam, life kondaadalaam!!!"
Anyways readers, why dont you list other unique songs of ARR? I really want to go into another ARR rediscovery journey over the next few weeks. Keep posting, and sorry for the delay between posts!

A sudden discovery - Madhavan played Sujatha?

Sujatha (S. Rangarajan) the writer/ dialog writer par excellence in Tamil literature and cinema is no more. He is credited with spearheading the team that designed India's first Electronic Voting Machine. While these are in the news and are well known facts - what really caught my imagination was that - I now realize suddenly that Mani Ratnam's protagonist in "Kannathil Muthamittal" was more than loosely based on Sujatha.
Here are my observations on the similarities between Thiruchelvan (played by Madhavan) and S.Rangarajan (Sujatha)
1. Both write under a "Female" pen name (Indira was Thiruchelvan's wife's name - same with 'Sujatha' Rangarajan).
2. Both shoot into fame/ have a connection with Anandha Vikadan
3. Both have a day job in a productions/ government sector company (Maddy can be seen wearing uniform to work and talking on the phone/ meeting employees or union guys. Sujatha was an engineer at Bharat Electronics Limited in his day job.)
4. The obvious connection - Maddy speaks Sujatha's lines in the movie - and a lot of the thoughts are said to be either Sujatha's or Mani Rathnam's - the views of life, the focus on simplicity, the so-called "live for yourself" principle, the incisive nature of the speech and writings and so on.
I will research a bit more on Sujatha and see if there are any more similarities.

Belated Birthday wishes to all concerned.

I have become an expert at missing birthdays of close friends/ family.
Take the example of one friend X - I have missed 2 of the last 3 birthdays. This time I realized I missed it some x time period later. (this birthday wish miss instigated the blog entry.)
Take the example of another friend Y - I missed all of that person's birthdays till 2005 and then wished the friend once in 2006 and again missed 2007.
I dont remember wishing Z in the last 6 years.
I missed XX's birthday last year. I only knew XX from 2004 - so I had wished XX for 3 consecutive years before this inevitable miss.
All of X,Y,Z,XX are what I would consider CLOSE friends.

X, Y,Z, XX - I am sure all 4 of you read this blog. Sorry to each one of you.


Here is a message to all you friends who have been victims of my oversight.
The fact that I miss birthdays is testimony to my forgetfulness. And that alone.
p.s -
So much for missing birthdays of friends, I did not wish my mom on her birthday last year.

Life updates - in a few bullet points.

1. Attending 4 marriage ceremonies within 24 hrs is difficult. I also suck at socializing in marriages. Yet I like the feeling of being important enough to attend them.
2. Shankar Mahadevan in TZP is god reincarnate. The title song is my pick for song of the year.
3. Purchasing my first kurta and wearing them to marriages is like a coming of age ritual. Momentuous.
4. The Elliots beach is a fantastic place to discuss life, the universe and everything.
5. The producers, director, cast and crew of Billa should consider themselves lucky to get away with such a K max movie. Billa will make Karan Johar ashamed when it comes to marketing K max movies to make money out of them.
6. Life in Chennai rocks in patches.
7. Points 1-6 may not add any value to your life.

Khwaja mere khwaja - A journey to the gods.

The most unbelievably divine and addictive song of this year. It took me on a journey to heaven. How?
The first one minute is an invocation to god to thank him for creating ARR and a reminder to personally do so. And with his unbelievably innocent cries of Khwaja in those moments - tears are created by god. The final tears of happiness.
Before the first charanam - his innocent cries of "AAAAAA" leave u gasping for breath (one of those last in earth) and add more tears simultaneously. You are preparing for moksha."Tere Darbar mein ARR" all of us are your slaves and ready for that moment of moksha. Especially when you sing Qawwali and have words like "Owliya" in the song. Let me also thank the inventor of such words in heaven. The mystic flutes or some other wind instruments add to the appropriately named "Sufi mysticism". Ha! I dont want to attain mukthi anymore. I want to return to earth after a short visit to heaven.
Are you in bliss in the second charanam ARR? as if to give me that last high. and why do u pause at the end of the second charanam as if to push me down a cliff and wait for me to land with a bang - when you start your final flourish, which will coincide with my fast ascent to heaven - where I hope to meet all the gods and thank them for this song.
The song ends - I return to this earth and proceed to welcome your next homecoming saying "Aseem o shaan shehenshah"

Twenty20 Rare Event

This has to be a once in an eternity thing.
My country India is World T20 Champion
My state Tamil Nadu is Indian First Class T20 Champion
My city Chennai's team "Chennai Superstars" has won the ICL T20 Championships
My current place of work Victoria has just won the "KFC T20 Bash" (The Aussie first class T20 Championship)

Coupling Railway tickets with city events

An interesting and pretty useful idea has been implemented in Melbourne. Melbourne's local rail/ tram/ bus service provider Metlink's tickets are a very useful thing to have. One could use validated tickets to enter sporting events at the MCG like the domestic T20 tournament. I could also have watched the Victoria vs. India game at the Junction Oval for free by showing a valid Metlink Ticket.

I think this idea is pretty powerful as an incentive to use public transport and can be tried out in India. I do not know if such a scheme exists somewhere in India yet. Think about it – if someone wants people to use public transport (mind you – I believe trains as public transport should be encouraged as it doesn’t suffer from any other disadvantage apart from crowdedness in peak hours and coverage) - shouldn't they incentivize it too?

Let’s say Chennai wants more people in the IT highway using trains rather than board some of those company buses which make the OMR (IT Highway) as clogged as Mumbai’s train stations in the morning and evening peak hours. It obviously should improve the rail connectivity and I believe that is partially complete and will only keep getting better. Assume they do that. Now, IF we also assume that locals are satisfied with the IT Highway Railway connectivity and frequencies, what incentives do they need and firstly, why will such incentives work for the locals?

The IT junta are typically youngsters, and have much more spending inclination and capacity than the Tambaram-Beach train passengers (Target audience will be interested). It will also promote awareness of the events on store, and thus a lot of people who did not go to such events because they did not know of it might end up visiting those events.
It means walking for a few extra 100 ms to get to the office as compared to their conventional means (company bus/ bike/ car) - people have to get incentives to tide over the lack of enthu to take public transport.
Positive publicity effect for the IT Highway train system, it should be promoted as happening and trendy. Vending machines on train stations, online booking, tax benefits/ automatic deductions from conveyance allowances can be good incentives too.

Now, what are the events that can be tied to the Railway Card?

The upcoming IPL. They can enter into a percentage revenue kind of agreement with the Railway network, the network pays a fixed sum to the Stadium/IPL authorities, and entry can be initially restricted to a particular stand for Railway pass holders (initially we can restrict it to monthly pass holders only). Based on the crowds, and financial feasibility – it can be opened up further.
Hockey League – something that so needs viewers.
Any BCCI Tournament (the T20 National tourney, Challengers, promotional events etc.)
Movie theaters ? – very ambitious idea – but why not try it at select screens?
Music season cutcherys – the cultural awareness on Chennai’s music season can be increased and it might just revive the culture of youngsters appreciating classical music.
Rock shows/ Unwind center concerts – Cash cow kinda thing.
Still need to think a lot more on this idea. I will appreciate your feedback.