Outlaw's Outlet

"Paadhi Kaadhal" - Refreshing song

2009-05-17T12:49:00.005+05:30

My first music post in a while. And this song from Modhi Vilaiyaadu (Music by Hari and Leslie) is really worth it. Strikingly similar in its core and interestingly even in part of its orchestration to "PorkkaLamaa, thee kuLamaa" a.k.a Oneness by RR - (Subbu will remember it as one of the songs of our PGP1 days in IIMB. ), this song is intriguing, catchy, classy and involved at once. Sunitha Sarathy and Jayashree in one song was the USP which led me to download the song uninitiated, and man - are they a combination or what! Jayashree is seen singing full throated for a change - after the irritatingly monotonous usage by Harris Jayaraj. The percussions of the thavul when Sunitha is crooning away is really a novelty... What an exciting song, that keeps changing till its end... Enough to make this the most interesting song of the year so far. It's interesting how both singers stick to their strengths in the same song and make it click!
I dont want to post MP3 links here - but check the song out. Its available everywhere.

It is not really "Chennai" Super Kings playing out there

2009-04-18T19:51:00.005+05:30

I have half a mind to stop watching CSK games after today's CSK match. Dhoni is 100% responsible for it. He picks Parthiv Patel ahead of Chennai's Vijay. I think Vijay is better in these conditions being a test class opener. But that's still acceptable. He drops Balaji for a different combination of bowlers. Not fair on someone picked to play test cricket for India not too long ago.
He then picks R Ashwin and does NOT give him a bowl. Why? Why? Why? Even after Flintoff gets tonked for 3 sixes in the 18th over. It is irking me even more as the spinners won it for MI in the end. Dhoni also got CSK's batting order horribly wrong. Patel is no opener in SA conditions in my book. Flintoff at 4 when 2 early wickets fell is again a slap on Badri's face. He then picks himself and Oram ahead of poor Badri who was forced to come in at 7 when they needed 60 off 30 or the like. Not too surprising given similar shoddy treatment in last season's IPL. I remember hapless Kapugedara coming ahead of Badri in last yr's final. Badri needs to shift to Royals in order to get more opportunities. Dhoni is getting too involved with his foreign cricketers and going too much on face value. He needs to back performers like Badri, Ashwin, even Vidyut and Vijay. Even if we lose, we lose with our Tamil boys screwing it up... Atleast give our boys the chance Dhoni. Don't be this autocrat. If you continue in this vein, you might lose your biggest supporters...
Dhoni seems hell bent on losing the respect of Chennai fans like me.
(The following is my reaction to Monkee's comment that informed me of 5 TN cricketers being sent back to India)
Who is Viraj Vilas Kadbe? He averages 26 in 6 matches with the bat and has taken 7 wickets for Vidharba in Domestic ODIs. He is yet to play T20. What has someone like Vidyut or Suresh Kumar done to miss out on selection ahead of this Kadbe? Suresh Kumar is a useful all rounder who averages 51 in 10 list A games for TN batting at 6 or 7.
Vidyut was more than useful last year. I am not citing Abhinav/ Anirudh's case yet cus the mandate seems to have been to retain the bowlers/ bowling all rounders. Vidyut and Suresh can both bowl ok. They have done enough to retain their spots. What has Kadbe done to stay in the CSK? He is 19. Even if some unbiased sport was to argue saying that his age was on his favor - Napoleon Einstein my friend. He is an allrounder as far as I know, and has been in India's Under 19 squad. What has Kadbe done?
And in any case I find Jakati staying on inexplicable. He is NOT getting a game in any case. Murali, Ashwin are the top 2 spinners. Even Indian teams dont take 3 spinners for tours abroad, and you are looking at players with Murali Kartik/ Amit Mishra's class missing out. Surely Jakati is not their class in left arm spin (He has 103 wickets in 41 first class matches!!!!). The guy has never played even Zonal cricket if I were to believe cricinfo. Face it Dhoni - HE IS NOT GONNA TURN OUT IN CSK's XI ever!!!! There will never be injuries to BOTH Ashwin and Murali. Even if such a situation were to arise, we could have managed with Vidyut/ Einstein if only you had retained them.
Dhoni seems to be in a rampage to send back TN cricketers and eventually lose supporters from Chennai. God save him. Finally "Idhu Chennai Chennai Superkings!!!!!"

2008 - Year in review

2008-12-31T11:09:00.003+05:30

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

2008-11-23T16:01:00.004+05:30

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

2008-11-15T15:34:00.008+05:30

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.

2008-11-07T16:25:00.006+05:30

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

2008-10-30T16:52:00.006+05:30

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...

2008-10-23T15:05:00.003+05:30

... 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

2008-08-26T11:51:00.004+05:30

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

2008-08-18T11:08:00.002+05:30

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

2008-08-14T12:25:00.004+05:30

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

2008-08-12T12:54:00.003+05:30

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

2008-08-12T12:51:00.004+05:30

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

Girish

2008-08-08T17:45:00.003+05:30

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

2008-07-30T10:16:00.003+05:30

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

2008-06-04T00:08:00.002+05:30

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

2008-06-03T14:36:00.003+05:30

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

2008-05-20T15:05:00.002+05:30

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

2008-04-30T11:28:00.004+05:30

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

2008-04-29T11:39:00.004+05:30

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

2008-04-01T10:30:00.002+05:30

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...

2008-03-26T23:40:00.005+05:30

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?

2008-02-29T14:58:00.004+05:30

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.

2008-02-25T00:05:00.004+05:30

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.

2008-02-11T00:09:00.000+05:30

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.

2008-01-31T00:30:00.000+05:30

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

2008-01-15T04:47:00.000+05:30

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

2008-01-09T06:15:00.000+05:30

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.

Celebrating Shankar Mahadevan

2007-12-25T06:18:00.000+05:30

I was listening to Shankar melt my heart yet another time with his Maa (Taare Zameen Par), when I decided to dedicate a blog post to him.
Shankar Mahadevan is my all time favorite singer along with Srinivas. I respect and worship SPB, Ilayaraja and ARR but, this is a personal favorite list, I hope the greats will forgive me.
Why do I celebrate rather than worship/ respect/ adore/ admire Shankar?
He is simply my musical best man. He is Mr. Versatile in my opinion. He is a man for my every mood. He is the painkiller, he is my tranquiliser, he is my rejuvenator. Why do I value his company more than the great SPB? Shankar also wears a composer's hat, and given his strongest classical and hindustani music roots, he churns out the numbers just the way I want when he is composing them and when he is adding value to another composer's number, he infuses so much more into the song that it is impossible not to fall for his honest rendition . It is almost like liking variants of filter coffee. Everyone knows that filter coffee of the top draw is fantastic, yet people have their own variants they swear by.
Anyway, enough of the coffee break, back to why I so celebrate Shankar -
He is the best emoter when you think of singing as a art form. The brihas and gamakas are so delightful coming out of him, and I just cannot stop smiling at his variations in so many of his songs.
He is a man for every type of song, versatility is such an obvious asset of his - I don't need to stress on this.
He has provided so many of my musical highs -let me start doing what I like to do, list my favorite Shankar Mahadevan songs (Sung by Shankar, composed by his trio/ other music directors) by flavor!

Peppy, Uplifting Shankar!
1. Varaaha Nadhikaraiyoram - This along with Breathless were my first doses of the magic drug that comes in king size! Its almost like starting a document with a pillaiyaar suzhi. Lets move on.

2. Uppu karuvaadu - Harish was a college kid in his first year in 2000, needless to say he liked songs energized him. Shankar is like the neighborhood power station which charged Harish in 3 minutes flat.

3. AaL thotta boopathy - When I was raving about Shankar's ability to elevate an ordinary composition to another level with his energy, acumen and abundant talent - this was one of the songs on the top of my mind. Unbelievable singing when he goes "Kaadhal Kalyaanatha, andha saami senjaaradaa." Whoelse could match Simran's uplifting (:p) beauty in that song? Shankar's rendition. What else!

Fast Romance numbers with a classical flavor
My favorite Shankar Mahadevan category - I do not know what else to call these. Shankar is simply unmatched in this type of songs. Songs where Shankar blends his creativity with precision and unabashed bold singing. Let me just list these songs to give you a better idea.
1. Manasa Gelupu - This song from the Telugu movie Godavari is a must listen. Bringing Classical music and pop together couldn't be done better. Shankar's ability to go to fifth gear from second gear is evident in the charanams, and the kalpana swaras are so energetic and beautiful.
2. Tumne Aaj meine jo dekha - I discovered this song from Kuch naa kaho years after its release, and I was impressed by how honest and genuine the song was. If you want to convey your love to a girl, play this song! Dipak Krishnamani - if you ever read this, thanks for taking me in that now defunct Hyundai Santro of yours (in 2005 sometime) and playing this song!
3. Jhoom Baraabar Jhoom - There are six versions (ok seven) of this song in the movie, one just has to listen to all the other versions before coming to Shankar's rendition to realize how much more value he adds! Fantastic stuff.
4. Manmadha Maasam (Paarthale Paravasam) - ARR meets Shankar Mahadevan. Period.

Slow, sad, pathos, beautiful etc.
Why does he melt hearts better? Surely it's a god given gift. Or is it his complete mastery of Bhaava? whatever it is - God bless Shankar!
1. Maa - Taare Zameen Par. Shankar matches ARR and his phenomenal Luka Chupi with this innocent, child like confession.
2. Taare Zameen par title track - The song playing in a big screen with those out of the world end credits will make even the stoniest hearted among us cry. It taught me a few lessons on the beauty of life, on the importance of being alive etc. To live is a boon. To live with Shankar's music playing in the room makes you realize it!
3. Enge Enge - This unbelievable song is a little known chupa rustum. "Iraiva nee thotru vittaai, Kaadhal idam nee thottru vittaai" - BRILLIANT!
4. Uruguthe maruguthey - When Shankar and the incredibly gifted Shreya Ghoshal team up for a beautiful duet, the romantic in you is reborn. As BK said - "Kadavul kitta karuvarai kaetten, unna sumakkavaa?" has to be a legendary line.

I guess this listing exercise is just the tip of the iceberg. It will be good if you all could add to this. Even I need to dig deeper than the top of the mind to pay a complete tribute to Shankar Mahadevan.

Blogging service resumes

2007-12-14T05:35:00.000+05:30

A good morning to all the readers from Melbourne. It has been close to two weeks since I landed here and busy work schedules coupled with Melbourne's unreasonably expensive internet conections at home have contributed to this delay in my first blog. Thankfully - a dull Friday at work has given me the license to blog.
Life has been pretty peaceful out here - but something from within tells me, India and Chennai are the places to be.
Things that I miss -
1. Makki and the other Gang guys who light up each and every day of my life in Chennai / India
2. The movies - Satyam cinemas is more important to me than I could ever realize.
3. The long phone conversations, Lulu snacks and all those other little things that make my 'Unbearable Tamness of Being' inevitable.
4. Mom's food. More than anything. Face it - living at home is a boon. It makes up for most other things.
Music update -
I tried to re-live IIMB life by listening to songs that defined my IIMB existence. Some of these songs are very close to my heart (I figured out now)- and there was immense joy on listening to them -
1. Kandisa, Indian Ocean. Ah! what a song, singalongability is a huge strength of this song. It made me very nostalgic of IIMB and E-Top.
2. Sandhippoma, ARR - 2003 was recreated before my eyes. Trivandrum memories flooded me almost immediately. There was NO IIMB connection to this song, but still - a digression is fair enough for this song.
3. Scarborough fair, Simon n Garfunkel - The ethereal bliss I get on listening to this song has to be experienced to believe.
4. Allah ke bande, Kailash Kher - The earthy voice and the genuineness in the song reminded me of my naivette on entering IIMB and how the place was a rude shock to me.
5. Thanimai Iravu, Navneeth - Girish is a god. Period.

Other activities -
I have been watching a lot of Friends on TV and it is a boon that I have missed it so far in my life. I have also been watching Ford Ranger Cup (Australian ListA ODI matches).
Movies - Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN is a good addition to my list of worthy watches.

Cya soon with more updates.

Most memorable ARR Songs - Vol 1.

2007-11-07T00:19:00.000+05:30

Baradwaj Rangan has celebrated fifteen years of AR Rahman. Now, I belong to a generation that really grew up with A R Rahman. I was a sprightly young kid of 10 when ARR released Roja, and my four years of Engineering college would best be described as two years of ARR and two years of Ilayaraja (I wouldn’t be accused of blasphemy now, God’s name has been mentioned in this post celebrating music!) Indeed, I spent my fifteen opinion building years with ARR’s music and hence the motivation for a blog that promises to look at how the man actually was an ideal foil to many of my happy, sad, defining, coming-of-age, nostalgic, memorable moments. I am sure the next fifteen years of ARR and similar exalted souls’ music will warrant another blog entry in 2022. But that’s some time away. To cut a long first para short with a summary line –

“I am going to attempt listing my most memorable ARR Songs with wordy explanations that are wordy to convey emotion and not for any other reason. Here is Part 1 of the list. In no particular order – here we go.

Kadhal Rojave (Roja)– Sometime in my quarterly holidays of my sixth standard, my parents took me to Bangalore. A trip I still remember for two reasons – firstly that was my first flight journey and the second – AR Rahman. It was a car journey from Hosur to Bangalore and one of our “well-to-do” uncles was flaunting his car stereo to us. Being the inquisitive, impressionable kid, I asked him to play Roja, which was a chart buster at that time. Sujata’s humming in that dark road and those deep beats still resonate in my mind. It was a song best heard in that kind of situation. Fifteen years on, whenever I see the music video – I replace the poignant and emotional Mani Ratnam shot visuals with Harish, his dad, mom and uncle driving on that traffic-less Bangalore (!) road.
Haira Haira – Thanks to Ganesh Natarajan for reinventing this song. This song symbolizes the joys of being a sixteen year old adolescent. Aishwarya Rai dressed up so tastefully by Shankar, and described by all the finest poetry of Vairamuthu. It makes ARRs job of setting it on tune easy isn’t it? For lines like “50 kg tajmahal” “Pocket sizeil vennilavu” “Ottrai kaalile pookkal nirpadhu un koondhalil ninraadatthaan”, Vairamuthu is the hero of this ARR creation!
Sonnaalum Ketpadhillai (Kaadhal Virus) – This is one song I so associated myself as I grew out of college crushes. For the 20 year old Harish, Harini singing “Kadaisiyil kalandhen kadale” was her complicity to accept my proposal! I so seemed to think that Harini was the voice of my college crush. Such were the days. The flute in the beginning of the song played to my twenty year old tunes. Ah! What bliss.
Azhage Sugama (Paarthale Paravasam) – I think Mr. KB had the song in mind when he named the film. It is completely “Kettaale Paravasam”. Paravasam on hearing those Ganesh Kumaresh violin interludes. Paravasam on Srinivas’ effortless innovation during the song. Paravasam on seeing Simran’s suggestive beauty on screen in an otherwise pointless movie. Paravasam on hearing my favorite Sahana given such amazing treatment by the real hero. ARR. My third and fourth year of Engineering would have been incomplete without this song.
“Vellai Pookkal” (Kannathil Muthamittaal) – Mr. Girish, my parents and I had just played Side A of the just released Kannathil sound track on my 70W PMPO BPL Tape recorder circa 2002. And for 5 minutes no one spoke. The dour walls of my house seemed to accentuate the effect. It was a deathly silence. All of us at the end were looking at each other and grinning in bliss. ARR’s voice set to the beautiful Hamsadwani aided by some powerfully simple guitars is all it takes to elevate mundane lives. Ofcourse – lines like “Malare sombal muritthu ezhugave” add to the pleasure. I used to laugh at people who glorified cute kids. No more.
Dating – Boys. 2003. My ARR godfather, Mr. Girish had just left for Singapore. And what a tonic to help me cope with his absence! I was completely bowled over by the brilliant juxtaposition of English and Tamil lyrics. And what wordplay. Shankar is the king of extracting wordplay! Muga naga natpadhu natpalla nenjin thaga naga natpadhu natpaagum. Karka kasadara karpavai kattrapin marakka cheivadhu Love aagum. Thiruvalluvar needs to learn from these guys! Blaaze was Rahman’s greatest contribution to India after Vande Mataram I used to think!
Varaaga Nadhikaraiyoram – Sangamam 1999. The energy in the song got me addicted instantly. I cant remember the number of times I rewinded and replayed the song the day it got released. This I must say was my discovery of the love I had for Qawwali and Shankar "Breathless" Mahadevan.
Zikr – Bose (2005) – This is when I died a million deaths over two months. The song I have shut doors, windows, switched off lights in the room for. To focus on the divine rendition. I experienced my first high in life over this song – Before I ever got high on Alcohol. Maafi Qalbi Ghairullah indeed.
Mellisaye – Mr. Romeo (2001-2002). The years indicate my addiction to the song. Mr. BK and I got hooked to this flowing composition mainly for Srinivas’ shining performance and the Ilayarajaesque flavor to this ARR song. This song was Srini’s debut for ARR on a lead role. And what a start.
Anbenra Mazhaiyile – Minsara Kanavu (1996). I was in Raipur visiting cousins on a summer vacation. Young Vasudha (an aspiring singer) was singing this unbelievably divine song on Bajaj Sapthaswarangal. Fervent shopping later, I listened with my cousin to this outstanding piece of rendition by Anuradha “Under utilized” Sriram. I had to include this on my ARR tribute. ARR has that divine streak in him. This song seems to vindicate it.

To be continued.

Self Rant

2007-10-03T14:10:00.000+05:30

Readers who came in for humor, to feel good about life can give this a miss.
"Please don't read this blog!"
"Please don't read this blog!"
"Please don't read this blog!"

Ok, having said that, I am hazaar pained in life. This is due to a complete NED (No Enthu Da for those who still are reading this) that hits me as soon as I enter the workplace. So?
"Please don't read this blog!"
Now, having filtered those who still want to close the blog window, I do not really know how to counter this. Hate has been exhausted. Frustration limits have been continually (At this moment, Makki calls me - 2.20 mins of pointless conversation later, I resume)
"Please don't read this blog!"
for those who thought this live update was totally unnecessary and breaks whatever little flow this post has. That said, Self tried to overcome NED in life by putting Bangalore trip for half of the 4 day long weekend. And NED was extinguished for a cupla days. But, come office day - and he shows his nasty face with a smug grin, thats soon assuming irritating proportions. Nasty NED promises to enter my life at 7.30 am tomorrow and day after, and wants to invade life this saturday contrary to popular (the 4 of them who might have survived to reach to this sentence in the blog) opinion. Those who seem to think working on a Saturday is OK -
"Please don't read this blog!"
NED now seems to accentuate a neck-pain that used to trouble me back when I was in campus. Ok NED, how do I kill you?
Those who don't have an answer to this question -
"Please don't read this blog!"

Pray for me Brother!

2007-09-10T16:19:00.000+05:30

This is not some eulogy for ARR's single.
This is a request to all of you readers who believe in God or some force that rules us all. Pray for me. I need a miracle to help me in my quest for something that readers of this blog might know about. I was an agnostic and then even an atheist. But I have now conceded defeat to all those beliefs. Maybe, I need to pray afterall. Ok. Here goes. Join me and pray to God or that force to "Give me that one thing I want!"
Please.

The Arbitest life update ever

2007-08-28T16:26:00.000+05:30

My TVS Victor, purchased in August 2004 finally crossed 10000 - today somewhere in Perungudi - near that Grundfos junction.
The Shatabdi express evening train that leaves Chennai for Bangalore at 17.30 hrs on all days except Tuesdays is value for money. Infact it is the ultimate joy ride. The food served there is excellent - and that it is sumptuous is an understatement. It starts with a Frooty equivalent. Then some fresh sandwiches and samosas served with sauce. And then some good hot tea/ coffee. And if you were starting to get disappointed you were going to not be served dinner, this is Indian Railways afterall, At 8 p.m you get served a very filling dinner which has decent variety as well. (Rice, Channa, Cabbage poriyal, Chapathis, Salad, Curd, Paneer Butter Masala. Wow!). And I only had to spend 550 odd bucks against the possible 1500 + bucks if I had decided to fly. Makki missed travelling with me on 22.08.07 from Chennai to Bangalore.
I am now one of those unfortunate souls who have watched 28 Weeks Later on a rainy night in a deserted Pseud Multiplex. KKKKK
I have re-started Bowling in the alley, and averaged a healthy 137. That an alarming loss of form caused the 3 week hiatus makes the return to form even more delightful.
Vasu-Seth movies must be banned from occupying all screens of a multi-theater complex, Even if the theatreplex is bang in the heart of a Vasu-seth-max area. Mukka and I raced through the traffic from the edge of TTK Road to Ega theatre to find "Partner" and "Heyy Baby" greeting us. KKKK again. We decided to drive back home and watch Chennai - 600028 instead. That I decided to say "I could do with one" to an imaginary voice over asking "Drinks" ala Daniel Balaji in Kaaka Kaaka was the clincher.

Such is Life. Arbit. And as a throwback to the days when we used to write proofs for geometrical axioms/ theorems, I finish this post with a - Hence the post.

Pertinent observation

2007-07-20T10:58:00.000+05:30

I was going through my archives the other day - when I was taking a breather from work, and I was both amazed and curiously worried about the totally different way of writing, presentation and attitude conveyed in the blogs. I seemed to have been another guy altogether. I completely seem to have lost that part/ face/ existence - depending on the severity of this so called change. I can't even associate myself with some of the posts I had made back then! Let alone blog that way. Totally mixed emotions on reading all those posts and the recent ones. Baffled and puzzled! Guys, what say?

Madras Male - the quest

2007-07-16T11:55:00.000+05:30

There has always been this huge love I have had for the Chennai city. I remember fondly peeking out of the Bus window when I came to Chennai from Hyderabad during 2003-04. I used to be so fond of the city n the people here that I used to rush home twice a month from Hyd. And once the bus hit Mount Road, I absoulutely had to peep out and check out the latest hoardings - Who's Pothy's new model? Which tamil movie has occupied the pride of place in those mammoth hoardings close to the Thousand Lights signal? (I still remember this amazing 'Ulle Veliye' cutout that was put up by the creative genius Parthiban in this spot). What is the latest Amul hoarding near Spencer's signal? What is the latest Chennai Silk hoarding? Who is the new Prince Jewellery model? All these questions may have been of trivial importance to others, but I absolutely had to know it.
Similarly, I still always stop my bike whenever I see a major movie's poster to see the theaters it is running and quickly do an analysis of how it is distributed. Whether it is a good movie for the distributor could be figured out from that actually. These were all things that I absolutely had to do each time I hit Chennai.
Now that I spent the summer of 2006 and 2007 here, and seem to be destined to stay here for some more time, I am using every opportunity to live the city to the maximum. BK and myself went on this crazy drive from Sterling road to Ega all the way to Sangam, and from there to Pantheon Road, Mount Road and then to Satyam, all in the quest to know our city better. And that's where I got the enthu to blog on this topic. I embarked on a similar trip, once I finished watching HP 5 in Devi.
The rear exit from Devi leads to this really crowded street - I wanted to see where this goes, since it seemed to run parallel to Mount Road. I thus decided to persist with it till it reached Pycrofts Road, where I took a turn and took this real long drive there, to see fond memories of Chepauk return - when I saw the Bell's Road, Pycrofts Road junction. How the 'D Stand' used to be in Bells Road, and the Victoria Garden Road used to be the road to take for the costly Pavilion and Terrace stands. I was instantly nostalgic and decided to circle Chepauk, and then hit the Marina Beach Road. I was reminded of how I used to get down at the Station opposite the Marina beach -and relegiously follow Dad's instructions to reach Chepauk. Now that I understand the city better - these past memories seem even more amazing. I then braved heavy rain to drive all the way to Santhome and then figured out intuitively that Teynampet had to come in that direction and finally hit home through Pondy Bazaar. One big joyride it was. My clothes were dripping wet at the end of it, but it seemed more than worth it.
The quest to be the quintessential Madras Male is well on. And I am more than happy about it.

Harry Potter and the Lazy Fan

2007-07-09T10:25:00.001+05:30

I have been afflicted by cravings of Harry Potter again. I so want to finish the fifth n sixth books . I first want to finish the Order of the Phoenix before its movie release this friday, so as to watch the movie in the big screen AFTER reading the book. One confession - I have NEVER watched a HP movie on the big screen! What a loss! I have only 3 more chances left. Will want to definitely make up for lost time. Infact - I wonder why I resisted the HP temptation for so long. I started reading those delightful pieces of literature on a friend's prolonged and continuous insistence. Even after I started reading them - I have been fairly sporadic in my HP reading habits despite thoroughly enjoying all the books. I have actually spent night-outs reading Wiki and other websites on HP. Unbelievable! my No-enthu da bursts and their destructive effects on my genuine liking for HP. Here is a summary of when I read each book, to drive home the point -

HP 1 - May 2005
HP2 - June 2005
HP3 - March 2007!!! Blame this on IIMB. but what a loss of 2 years. I remember finishing it just after I returned from my Goa trip.
HP4 - April 2007 - I remember enjoying my train journeys and even Auto journeys reading this book. I completed this at home - in one huge session where I raced through 300 pages.
HP 5, 6 - Still to read!!!! (despite both books lying at home for the last 3 months!)
Let's see if I resist No enthu to finish this book on time. To beat it to the theater, literally!

Recent Musical gems

2007-07-03T13:36:00.000+05:30

Thanks to my recent acquisition - The MotoRokr, I get to listen to a lot of music while I am travelling to and from work. Arduous times those, I spend more than 20% of my day, and almost 33% of the time I am awake in the bus. Here are some gems that keep my spirits up - and as I pointed out in an earlier post, help me attain that elusive "Bliss of solitude".
1. Kaise Kahen, Shiva, Ilayaraja. - Outstanding song this, I just love the 80's feel in this song. "I love you"!!!! - what a line...
2. Ore Nyabagam, Minnale, Harris Jeyaraj - Brilliant guitars and what depth in the song!
3. Jaane do na, Cheeni Kum, Ilayaraja - Shreya!!!!! what she does to me is unbelievable. The way she says "Jaane do na". The third and fourth lines - Naaaaa etc..Too much.
4. Appudo ippudo, Bommarilu, Devi Sri Prasad - Siddharth is this amazing musical talent. As Ganja, the guy who gave me this lifeline, says, the pa-ni-ni-sa-sa is AMAZING!!! What a peppy song. K to theory. This song is all about enjoying the moment.
5. Dol Dol, Pokiri, Mani Sharma (Telugu!!!!) - Suchi of Mirchi fame's voice is her s** appeal. No doubts. The number of loops this has constituted is too many to remember. What a woman. She just makes me forget the world and my existence.
6. I met Bach in my house, How to Name it, Ilayaraja. God! that's all he is.
7. Style, Sivaji, ARR - Unbelievable energy in the song, for me this is a life altering song.
8. Saroja saaman nikalo, Chennai 600028, Yuvan - Energetic song with out of the world veenai interludes that just kill you.
9. The Reason, Hoobastank - Singing that song aloud in Makki's car the other day was an unforgettable experience. That song has got the best lyrics ever in English I know.
10. Ay Hairathein, Guru, ARR - Hindi song of the year. Period. Innocence personified.

Will keep updating the blog with my musical rants on and off.

Musings

2007-05-27T22:14:00.000+05:30

I never gave my blogs such a dour and unimaginative name before. But, such is life.
Some random thoughts -
1. You are remembered by your last result.
2. I always thought I was this process guy n so on. BS. I live and die by results.
3. I never wanted big things. But I never wanted smaller things too.
4. Responsibility crushes me.
5. My life has always been up and down, and I have been hazaar inconsistent in life.

Worst! Even I have started sounding like one of those self help books. K to all that.
And yeah. I love this trait of mine. Where everything is Ked.

//IIMB/Learnings$

2007-05-01T14:01:00.000+05:30

I realized that, for the first, second and third time in history since this blog was born there wasnt a post in a calendar month. And its indeed a pity that such rare events occurred in consecutive months. Ok, Life was busy till my IIMB days got over. A couple of draft posts didn't pass my editorial committee. I wasn't feeling like doing anything for a while after that, leave alone posting blog entries.
Let me attempt to list the lasting images of IIMB and the learnings from two years at IIMB - without any more glob.
1. Lingo - How J became K is a story in itself.
2. Sessions with Royal Stag, Ilayaraja and a few great men. No wonder the 'Aap mein aur Bagpiper' was a hit campaign of the 80s and 90s
3. Strong guys - Focus was the name of the biggest lesson learnt there.
4. Pseude Women - Respect to all of them.
5. Living through two years where survival was tough and getting out. With scratches and bruises, but Graduate pannitom la? That kind of attitude to life.
6. A confused mind is a great peril.

Its been two years I will remember for a long time. But I just cant get myself to blog with fluency on this topic. Idea choking somewhere as they travel from the brain to my hands. So lets stop this here and take it on sometime else.
p.s- The naming of this blog should win the best title award

Guru - A review

2007-01-13T16:24:00.000+05:30

Well, As I have done over the last decade (Since Bombay to be precise) I watched a Mani Ratnam movie in the first weekend. But, Guru was not the mother of all movie watching experiences like say a Nayagan or Iruvar. The movie had strains of Iruvar and Nayagan all along – basically because of a thematic connect with these movies. Now, that is where I have a problem. Mani has templates of scenes which he retrofits to new projects he undertakes. Now, picture this – Hero is working before he takes on his address to glory. Mani uses an item number to cover that part of the hero’s life. Nila adhu vaanathu mele in Nayagan, “Mayya Mayya” in Guru. Hero and heroine get married, “Nee oru kaadhal” comes in Nayagan, “Ay hairathein” in Guru. Hero is in the pits – “Thenpaandi” in Nayagan, “Jaage hain” in Guru. And, images of Iruvar keep coming whenever Guru addresses meetings. The confined spaces scenes of the lead couple remind you of Roja and Inba’s sequences in Ayutha ezhuthu. It raises two possible questions - Has Mani fallen a trap to his old creations that he has to keep going back to his old movies to borrow scenes? Or is it just his style of film making? However much I want to believe the latter argument, as a Maniratnam disciple, I feel let down. Mani has just stopped stretching himself.

The movie has more than its share of moments though.

The kiss Maddy gives Vidya Balan has to be one of the most brilliantly picturised and passionate sequences in Indian movies. The sequence that sets up the rivalry between Mithunda’s camp and Guru is vintage Mani. The 40 minutes after the hero and heroine intro songs are rocking. A lot of Iruvar in it, but excellent pace and depth in the scenes. The party in Guru’s house when his partner decides to part ways is brilliantly done. Amazing characterization. The belly showing sequence and the dialogs that follow it (Guru and Ash rock in this sequence) are again Mani speciale. Rajeev Menon’s transitions in technique as Guru moves on from one stage to another in life are top class. (I just cant help but feel that Barso re was more Rajeev than Mani. Stains of Konjum mainakkale all along. ) The lead pair are good examples of how Mani extracts performances to suit his script. The Vidya Balan – Guru exchanges are delightful. Mithun da is extremely dignified and is a pillar of strength to the movie. Maddy is almost unnecessary, but for that one kiss – Respect!

While on one hand, I gasped in orgasmic pleasure for some of the better moments, I was totally pissed off with the way Mani had to use kids to sing “Jaage hain”. Was he trying a Thevar magan or what? Mani must have been drunk when he conceived this idea. Rahman is just absent in this movie. The overdose of percussion in the re-recording and that irritating “Guru bhai Guru bhai” chants leave you exasperated. ARR can be seen in his elements only in the melodic Barso re charanam inspired BGMs and that amazing bit song for Vidya Balan. But a great bit song is but an essential ingredient in a Mani Movie. “Mayya”, “Barso re” and “Ek lo ek muft” are needless speed breakers to the screenplay. Why does Mani have to make movies that have songs at all? And the climax. Which Mani ratnam hero speaks a 5 min monologue? Maybe I need to watch it in Tamil and get bowled over by the word play. But otherwise, I felt totally let down watching the climax.

Overall, Guru was brilliant in patches, but when Mani Ratnam takes close to 3 years to make a movie, and has such a hardworking cast at his disposal, you expect more.

Adieu Lille

2006-12-04T07:25:00.000+05:30

Harish is finally done with his stay in Lille. Whether he enjoyed it as much as he thought he would is a debatable question. There are things he saw that he can boast to his grandchildren over early morning Hindu reading sessions. There are exquisite varieties of booze that he can brag about to his friends with the authority of an inveterate drinker. There are scenes that he believes he should rewind and play in his mind before the final countdown starts in his life. But yet, he largely regrets the decision to land in France. He didn't quite like the idea of spending in Euros. Exchange rate actually played partial spoilsport to his exchange term. While orkutting and cricinfoing found new impetus during his exchange term, Harish exhibited cravings for company on many an occasion. Solitude is blissful for Harish only when he chooses to realize it. Basically he is not a very steady or sane character as readers of the blog will already know. Otherwise, he briefly enjoyed cooking his own food, but soon lost enthu to do it on an everyday basis simply because, he shouldnt enjoy ANYTHING for long periods of time. Strange are the ways of people, stranger are the ways of Harish. One good thing that came out of his wane in enthu for cooking is his weightloss, atleast Harish insists so. It's up to the readers and others who see him in Chennai to verify this statement. Psychoism - a term coined by Harish's cousin - is not yet something Harish has totally lost, and he did exhibit bouts of that during times with and without company. And, stints with some of his hookah wingies in Lille were, in Harish's opinion, delightful. Excellent booze sessions with strong company is something he always liked didn't he. And finally, the fact that some of his best buddies will be in Chennai waiting to welcome him is so exciting for him. For that alone, he wants the last few minutes, that he tried spending by a gen blog entry, to speed past.
Au revoir only.

The "Lazy"man on a Euro trip - Volume 4

2006-11-17T04:09:00.001+05:30

This post is dedicated to the lazy bum that I have become after about 45 days of relentless Eurailing and a subsequent derailing of enthu to continuously hit the road week after week. A minor crisis on the financial front (I am being a typical company MD here, where you need to read this as Bankruptcy:)) made the decision easier, or rather inevitable.
Thus these last few weeks have been dedicated to minimal movement across and within days. One week spent entirely at 9, Residence St. Louis, Rue de Princess, Lille - a comfortable, small and cosy room that is my abode for the next 18 days - was absolute pleasure. Days of orkutting, evenings of hour long GTalks with parents and Girish, nightouts preparing cricket quizzes and researching cricinfo/ The Hindu. Life was engineering revisited. Only, the "kutti chevaru" gang and some familiar faces were missing. Solitude was blissful, for those seven days. The next week saw the transition from fun to fin! literally. Futures were exciting and I foresee a cliched use of something related to the word future. Which I aptly avoid now. Anyways, even that week saw only a minor expansion of the horizon of the house arrest enforced home maker I had become - with minor sojourns in classes punctuating otherwise monotonously exciting days of confinement. Some of the "new" things I got to do - thanks to these 2 weeks (and a part of this week) were -
- 4 different varieties of subji with the same vegetable.
- 3C2 ways of selecting and having 2 pickles with rice.
- An academic endeavor which surprised even me!
- Time spent creating and moulding one of the dream ventures of the near future.

Nothing earth shattering - and that's precisely why I wrote this entry. It is possible to do nothing in life and enjoy it! So much that even a trip to Bordeaux made over the last 3 days got converted to a "No - enthu - da" trip - which meant I stayed in some friend's house for 2 days sleeping in the day
Travel and rest - rest and travel - rest and rest....
these three quadrants have been given their share of space...Only fair, cus The fourth quadrant was taking too much time in the first 2 months of exchange.

It's again "No enthu time" to continue this piece of brilliant trash.
Pack!

The Layman on a Eurotrip - Volume 3 - "Italia or Ind-alia?"

2006-10-28T05:13:00.000+05:30

Sorry for keeping all you guys waiting for this third volume of the travelogue.

And I still am gonna adhere to freewheeling, self-discretionary writing, and will cover things that are not “travelogical” in this one too. But I know that entertainment value ARE important – as I read through ALL of your feedback, rest assured on that aspect. Enough of the first paragraph BS – here is the third volume.

This one is NOT the Italy travelog. Given how much I missed India lately and the festive season that just ended, I thought I had to post something related to our great country soon, but little did I know that I would get such a lovely thematic fit. On that jubilant note – here I present – “Indalia”

Italy for one can be called Ind-aly or “Indalia” and get away with it – because of the HUGE and sometimes disturbing resemblence to India. Why?

There is absolutely NO traffic sense. When I first landed in Milano and crossed the road – there were vehicles rushing from all directions when the signal showed a red. People, like India, just didn’t care, as there was no police guy around. I figured out very quickly that signals are mostly to be used at one’s own peril. But what the hell, I have been in Hyderabad, where one can peacefully cross ANY crowded road anywhere, without waiting for a zebra crossing or for the traffic to reduce – so I coped well with this situation I must say;). Nevertheless – I felt at home in Milano immediately.
Trenitalia will give Indian Railways and its ill-maintained trains a run for its money. To the last cent. Even with 24 years of experience with Laloo’s fleet of stinking trains, I could just not enter the Venezia- Bologna toilet (which by the way was the first time I tried the train’s loo in Italy), and my survival instinct prevailed over my sense of urgency (tenesmous? Is that the word Rosenblum taught us?). The unfortunate thing is that some of the other European countries that Trenitalia enters have to live with the unmitigated negligence of the people who run this railway company – and endure its package of stinking toilets.
Ofcourse – time adherence will NOT be found in Trenitalia’s resume. I missed a connecting train from Milano in the early morning due to a 45 minute delay by the previous train I took (funny, considering the fact that the train journey in itself lasted only 2 hours) – HUGE for Europe. And yeah there went my 10 euros I paid as reservation for this train from Milano to Paris;(. Unfriendly people at the ticket counters add to travelers woes to ensure that the Trenitalia experience is very close to the Indian Railways experience. Laloo rocks. He is atleast trying to improve our own mammoth with the little money he has. Go on Laloo…you are bound to surpass Trenitalia soon.
Continuing on Trenitalia – it sure amuses you with its notices on Smoking – there was one particularly hilarious sign which said something to the effect of “No smoking on this train, even if there are other signs which say on the contrary!”. Trenitalia was the only railway line I saw which threatened a 8 euro hefty;) fine for smokers caught on the train, ofcourse I could see people happily break the rule and get away. Need I say more when I compare it with Indian Railway. Trenitalia also had the dubious distinction of changing platforms some minutes before departure and cancellation of trains.
As Indians who are used to blind guys singing some old Christian/ film songs in the metro railway and entertaining us on otherwise boring journeys, we were pleasantly surprised to see people with accordions in the train – who, were doing the same thing – this time playing some famous European pieces. The similarity with India would never end I thought.
Italy also saw me do a 2 hour trip in the train’s corridor – this was a “Ticketless train”, so at 4 in the morning there were hazaar people thronging the corridors. I must say this was a very Indian experience, and I enjoyed it thoroughly – even though the safety freak in me popped up and checked my wallet every few minutes, a la Janakaraj in some old 1980s movie. Thankfully, my pocket was not torn!
Pissing on the roadside was unseen and unheard of in all the countries (Yes – all six of them) I had seen. And guess what – you can get away with it in Italy and especially in beautiful Venice. What else could unsuspecting travelers/ locals do – if there are NO free public toilets in the city and the vending machine in front of the loo gobbles change?
The roadside on any Italian city is full of hawkers from the Indian subcontinent though I suspect the number of Bangladeshis is much more than those from India and Pakistan combined. This partially explains why we were checked for passports more in Italy than in all other countries combined. Liability of Origin – surprisingly pinched us most in the country that resembles India the most. Now someone explain this.
Pickpocketing and handbag slashing – as many of you would have known are highest in Italy – and one of my institute mates had her handbag slashed by one of those notorious bike-riding thieves.
For those of you who wanted something touristy as a similarity – Venice is Italia’s Allapuzha, what if it is 3 times more scenic. Rome is Italy’s New Delhi – and its cultural capital. Vatican irritated me with its 5 hour queues and hence prompted a comparison with our one Tirumala Tirupati;) Pisa and its funny tower is Italy’s wonder of the world – but nowhere is it as beautiful as the Taj! And for all those who have watched Godfather will swear that Bombay is India’s Sicily. Vada Pav in Bombay becomes Masala Dosa in Chennai and Margerita Pizza in Italy. Not exactly – but just for comparison’s sake.
The things that are similar to India but absolutely rock are the roadside pizzerias and gelato shops (Ice-cream parlours for the ignorant). Amazing pizzas and cone ice creams for very affordable (read cheap) rates. What else can the poor tourist ask for? I actually put on some (don’t worry – only a couple) of the many kgs I lost thus far on exchange thanks to the very tasty scoops of ice cream in some of the most exotic flavors. And, there were a few VEGETARIAN pizzas around – so I did stay vegetarian – thankfully!

p.s – The Italy – Cannes travelog is next.

"The Layman on a Eurotrip" - Vol 2, Berlin - Hamburg - Copenhagen - Malmo - Stockholm - Goteborg - Oslo - Bergen - Myrdal - Flam - Oslo - Rail Jail

2006-10-12T02:57:00.000+05:30

This ironically will be a very non travelogical post because, thanks to Eurail and its grossly inaccurate timetable, till we reached Oslo, we were only at railway stations and couldn't actually visit the places I mentioned so proudly in the title of this entry! So much for plans going berserk. From 11.30 am on Monday morning to 7 am Wednesday morning when we finally managed to set foot on a road in Bergen outside the station, we were successfully held to the confines of various railway stations around Scandinavia. I call it "Rail-Jail". But some of the things to come out of 43.5 hours in 9 trains and 9 railway stations were -
1. I can now rattle off prices of the 5 cheapest burgers and fries at Macdonalds and Burger King, and compare the subtle differences in taste between say Sweden and Norway.
2. I successfully erased any trace of the brahmin in me by eating what Burger King (BK) successfully claims in Sweden "We assure you that our hamburger is made of beef and only beef!". What a decline from the namam days not many years back. I hate this fact.
3. I can even pass blind tests in differentiating between Cheese burgers made in Mac and BK. I totally understand the Operations Management case I studied last years which said "Mac is standardisation, BK is customization". My respect for BK and its tagline of "Have it your way" has gone up hazaar, post the "Terminal"ization I underwent.
4. I totally think India rocks when it comes to pay and use toilets. At one point of time in Oslo railway station, I had to give up a burger I planned to have for dinner to urinate. 10 kroner or 75 rupees for pissing! Indian toilets are cleaner maintained for the 1 rupee they charge.
5. Hot dogs and the way Pressbyran (A supermarket chain) runs is another fascination for me now. Hotdogs are yummy, and the supermarket chains like Pressbyran have this fetish for maintaining store alignment. Walk into any store and you know where to go to find a Coke or say a cigarette. Infact, its standardized across supermarket chains if I am not wrong. It was the same in Lidl in Germany too.
6. Norway is NOT the place to live in - if you plan to save money and return to India or Live a life or Both. So too Sweden. They are SO expensive. Scandinavia also closes shutters and goes to sleep at 6 pm. The booking counters were closed, the information centres were closed, and the LOO closed at 6. We were literally stranded the first time we entered Malmo Railway Station in Sweden.
7. Stockholm railway station has these 2 newspaper boys freely distributing copies of a local newspaper early in the morning. Being unfortunate enough to hit the Stockholm railway station on 2 different days and seeing the same thing happen in front of my eyes - I noticed that the styles of achieving max distribution adopted by the 2 guys were very different. One of them was smiling, singing songs that his IPod was playing and murmuring pleasantries to the hundreds who bustled past him, while the other was using sleight of hand and jugglery skills to attract attention. Whatever it is, I was entertained.
8. The card-game of 28. Thanks to being imprisoned in the station at odd hours and while waiting for the next train to god knows where, I can now say that I learnt and mastered this game in these 3 days. I may not be as good as I am in say our good old "4 cards", but I am getting there.

Makki will tell me there is nothing close to a travelog in this entry, but the 3 days being covered had only trains and train stations in offer, and all the trains are prettu much the same, so nothing much to describe there too...But yeah, there are some things I have tried to convey in this entry. I think there is some MBA level cock thrown in too...But it was entirely unintentional, and don't worry, the next entry will have more tourism.

Till next time...
Tata only

"The Layman on a Eurotrip" - Volume 1, The Lille-Paris-Berlin leg

2006-10-10T23:20:00.000+05:30

Date : 30.9.2006,
Time : 5.50 pm European Standard time (whatever its called)
Starting Place : Lille Flanders Railway station

So this is where it started, the trip that was planned for 8 days (turned out to be a lot different from what was planned!) and that promised to cover a major chunk of Scandinavia. The train journey to Paris was uneventful, with me gasping a bit for breath due to the usual running in the end to catch the train thanks to chatting with BK till the last minute. Paris was expensive as expected and the Marlboro I got in the station pinched me badly, and that was the sore thumb in an otherwise good few minutes in Paris. I had a taste of the first of million burgers n fries that I was destined to endure in the trip here!

We peacefully reached Berlin, and the two hours at Berlin station where we tried working out plans for the week were mind numbing to say the least, with a lot of complexities and the Eurail website showing 2 different timetables to irritate the sh*t out of us... Whatever, the Berlin leg didn't start nicely at all, and we proceeded at around 12 noon to finally check out the Berlin wall (we now realized we had to spend the next day at Berlin), which a co-passenger said was right outside the Berlin Ostbahnhof station we were in. And all my plans of seeing something huge and historic fell flat when we saw a "kutti-chevaru" level wall full of interesting graffiti in front of us. A few of us did not believe that this indeed is the Berlin Wall! But yeah, the graffiti captured my interest, and some of them were brilliant pieces of art - ofcourse in the sarcastic sense! Some art pieces that ridiculed the commie regime, and how long germany stayed two countries were time-pass level. Check out this pic, that is my tribute to Rahul 'The Wall' Dravid! It was a particularly good snap considering the fact that I do 99% of the photography in my cam.
Apart from that, the day in Berlin was spent at the usual "Lonely Planet recommended" places.
The Reichstag, the Brandenberger tor, Babel Platz, Alexanderplatz and the World clock. I found them interesting, and the walk in the bustling Unter-den-Linden in the evening was something I thoroughly enjoyed. Most European cities have musicians playing on the roadside with hats collecting money. The feel it gives walkers on the road is amazing. Some of the wind instruments played that day were mindblowing and I spent quite a while simply enjoying the music and slowening my pace of walking. Anyways, Thanks to the big queue to go up the Reichstag, I had to settle for a view from the outside, and did some photoclicking that will be uploaded at my photolog in snapfish. I had dinner in a fair, and had some german speciality dish made of potatoes and mushrooms. It tasted good, and it blended well with the beer served at the Biergarten, which for the uninitiated are gardens that brew and serve their own beer.
So much for the day in Berlin, but let me tell you something else. Germany and Berlin were things that I got attracted to immediately for the following reasons -
1. The stark difference in prices compared to France - Sutta refill in Germany for sure.
2. The mystique that I could sense in Berlin, the brilliant intertwine of the old and the new. Here was a very intriguing city with a dark layer to it that I could sense - dont ask me how.
3. The German language, which I found to be more engrossing than French - all day, I was reading out German words aloud like (Stra-beta-e, Hauptbahnhof, Reichstag), much to the embarrassment of my co-travellers! Some of you do know my obsession with getting foreign language accents right! (Sebastian Grosjean etc...)
4. The S-Bahn - excellent train service, free for eurail pass holders and good frequency - what more could one ask for?

The night sleep in a bunker at a youth hostel (First time I slept in a bunker bed;)), and the rather forgettable experience at the wash room the next morning (Ping me and ask me why) were the only other things that were worth a mention in the Berlin first leg. There was to be a second Berlin leg to come in the trip - little did I know about that at this point in time (arnd 12 noon 2.10.2006)
So thus ended the Berlin leg, with a train from Berlin Hauptbahnhof to Hamburg Centraal. We planned to hit Copenhagen by night, but the turn of events since are reserved for my next volume - that will cover the next few days of my so-called Scandi trip. But as u would have realized, the first part of the trip had nothing to do with Scandinavia. So much for planning! But one thing I must admit - the kick you get out of being a backpacker who nomads his way around, little knowing where he is headed for next is something else!
Till the next entry - here is a Gute-Nacht from me....

Getting a feel of France

2006-09-19T17:20:00.001+05:30

Sorry for taking nine days to come up with the first blog entry from here -
It was more a question of how lazy I was than anything else.
I did cover Paris over the weekend, and I did want to start the travelog with Paris as volume 1 of my blogging here - but since the Louvre is still left to visit, I would rather finish that and put an integrated Paris travelog -
As I got settled into the place, there are other snaps I took and have uploaded to snapfish - but will compile one nice album and post the link to you all soon.

Till next time - here is a huge bow to Divya and Girish for their mindblowing rendition of Navneeth's masterpiece - "Thanimai iravu"

Its Au revoir! only i guess, for now

Ambalappuzhe

2006-08-18T02:44:00.000+05:30

- sung soul stirringly by m.g.sreekumar n chitra.
This has to be the song that's moved me the most, and that's set me in tears so many times....
it just transports me by a volvo bus to a different world, a rustic, peaceful world away from the noisy bangalore...and reinforces my belief in an institution that I already revere.
whenever I gain membership to that institution, I will remember to listen to this song, millions of times. In particular, during some important moments.

The bliss of solitude

2006-07-27T14:49:00.001+05:30

Wordsworth's words are timeless...

I have been experiencing this very state for sometime now, and loving every moment.
I have tended to avoid hearing voices now, and only instrumental music is played in my room for most of the so-called "24 by 7". Occasionally I do want a few voices crooning something for me to indulge in conversation with, and I sing along...But, thanks to
1. Ilayaraja's How to Name it
2. Ali Farka Toure and his brilliant guitar
3. Steve Vai
4. L.Subramaniam
5. Prasanna
6. Kadri
7. Mandolin Srinivas
and a few others, I just LOVE the feeling of the music playing in the background and setting the mood for my thoughtprocesses, naps and occasional bouts of work on Microsoft Word.
So much so, that I have tended to keep my conversation with wingmates over food to the minimum, and long to come back to the room and let the music takeover....
Has this been the best part of my love affair with music? I tend to think so.....
There is a constant train of thoughts on the transient nature of this all, when I will have to move into the real bad mad world a year from now, and this blissful state might have to die an early death. I shudder to think of that, and tend to pump up the volume at those times.....
Psycho! when did you master the art of evasion? Atleast you have finally become a master at one art! So stay happy and get back to the music dude.....

Summer Summary

2006-06-13T14:59:00.000+05:30

The last 72 days have been good for me in 5 ways (I have spent this summer at home!!!, and thought I must post an entry on the gains),
1. I got to gain a few inches around my already well rounded waist, thanks to some excellent food, cooked by amma and chefs who run some of Chennai's top hotels. I must have visited close to 30 different restaurants for lunch, and got to savor varied cuisines. Good on me, I must say... Well, the extra pounds...errr....IIMB and its mess shall take care of them...I hope;)
2. Quality time with Giri, BK, Rama, Vatsa, Sriram, Bharat, Nanba... et al. I have not got to spend this much time with these important people, for the last 3 years now. BK making his one month trip coincide with my summers, and giri flying down twice, have been great blessings, and the booze sessions with Raama, Sriram and Vatsa have been wonderful fun - I dint miss Bangalore all that much;).
3. Mallu Music - Well, this has to be the best thing that's happened to me in the last few months, this gives me enough belief that, there are bound to be blissful nights of solitude in Bangalore in the year to come...
4. Movies - Thanks to Raama, my IMDB movie count has gone up by 200% and thanks to Satyam cinemas - my tryst with movie theatres have been renewed. So what if I watched some crappy movies?
5. No sales in life!!!! - Summers at Microsoft taught me this gospel truth.

I am packing my bags and proceeding to Bangalore in less than 18 hrs. Wish me luck for what should be a good year, in terms of fun and learning.

Of Strategic Sales and Syriana

2006-05-09T17:25:00.000+05:30

The two parts of the topic are not related...by themselves.....except that one constitutes 5 days of my week, and the other is an example of a creation from an industry that keeps me alive the other 2 days to withstand the boredom from the first part....
I realized that there was no post in moi blog on my work.....it's specifically general. generally occasional, occasionally heavy....usually confusingly simple....and rarely simply confusing....
this many words plus that 2 word description "Strategic sales" are sufficient to describe...Moi work.....
A recent component of my work is decent....it involves getting into the dirty, stinking shoes of a private sector bank credit card salesman, who says "Sir, we are calling from $#@# bank...."
It's an experience in itself, that a so-called pampered kid who had it all easy in life needs to go through atleast once in life...Approaching people for appointments and going through repeated rudeness from pretentious PA's who say "He's in a meeting, why do you waste my time with all your calls!"...and finally on the fifth attempt, getting to speak to the senior manager who says "Why don't you contact me 4 days from now", and after subsequent subjection of the poor chap to repeated torture, a fifteen minute appointment.....
Traversing the trafficky roads of Hot Chennai, and quickly wiping the face of truckloads of sweat that flows as freely as freebies by political parties in chennai....before meeting the customer....with a faked "fresh and ready to go" look on the face, and a feigned smile that does Miss India aspirants proud....My god...respect to all the salesmen of this world...

The syriana part of my week is seriously good for me...cus I get to be me during that time...and what more could one ask for....

A Lonewolf stymied by Boredom and Monotony

2006-04-27T14:40:00.000+05:30

The phrase says it all - about the Psycho, now also called Punithan and his life now in Chennai.

But phases don't last, that's why they are phases. And hope lasts.
This post won't last any longer though. Too bad.

Hyderabad Blues

2006-04-17T11:43:00.001+05:30

The weekend that passed was spent at Hyd… A three day weekend was too valuable to spend laundering in hot, lonely Chennai. The psycho thus decided to explore the heat of the city of sultans. And it was a decision that he did not regret. Barring a frustrating train journey in a dirty, dusty compartment, and an auto journey in mad, almost Bangalore like traffic from Ameerpet to Secunderabad, the trip was worth the money and time.
Meeting up with an ol’ pal and an IIMB mate was as fun filled as expected. There were old times to catch up with and issues to clear, and for that, the psycho was happy he made the 700 km journey.
He also managed to visit a coffee shop Barista. How complete would a trip to Hyd be, without a visit to Prasadz? For formalities sake, being the loyal hyderabadi he was, The psycho also watched Taxi 9211, a really in-your-face and enjoyable movie.

Sunset > Sunrise

2006-04-07T19:56:00.000+05:30

If Before Sunrise was gs (Good stuff for the uninitiated), its sequel, Before Sunset was unmitigatedly good....
was an Anbe Sivam level experience..what with the two protagonists discussing god, life, that three letter word and beyond....
And watched Rang De Basanti in Six Degrees - satyam's brand new theater all alone....
well that throws some light on my boredom n vettiness i guess....
Went to sleep tryin to watch Seven Samurai....
now its eight o clock...
so lemme stop...

Before Sunrise...

2006-04-05T14:05:00.000+05:30

Is it a coincidence that Nestle sunrise had to base their legendary ad on a relationship?....The movie..Before Sunrise..is such a fascinating journey into relationships that all of u guys must watch it, while i shut up n go back to enjoy what is a hard earned vacation at home......
More such movie one line recommendations are due...
btw, exams ARE over..so is year one..waitin for the internship in the simmerin chennai heat n then for year two,..and a few friends who will be down for the summer....

A dream is born

2006-03-11T16:19:00.000+05:30

A new dream...A lofty dream...That would yield a lotta satisfaction...Some fame, money n recognition in the process...
But TOUGH TOUGH to realize...
In fact a crazy n farfetched dream accordin to many...
But aint it the point of life....Setting unattainable mirages as goals and creating reality from these seemingly invisible products of vision.....
One year from now...The mirage shall clear....and reality shall surface....
But will I be in the fortunate position of not making out the disappearance of the mirage?
Time shall tell the tale...

It's been some days...

2006-02-18T15:57:00.002+05:30

Since I was this relieved...
To use proprietary terms...
This week has been what the heck-tic...Exams, submissions, exchange program tension.....

Strong music, Good movies and ofcourse, my trusted "man -friday nights", here I am....

Work are there...After the 2 days of frenzied chilling out....
;)
And listenin to ARR's Godfather...no comments as of now...
And dudes...i promise to reply to mails better now on...for some days atleast...
have to rush to a class on a sleepy saturday afternoon...But then..such are the rules of this place...

Change?

2006-02-06T21:35:00.004+05:30

A fundamental re-alignment of the scrambled jigsaw...into something pleasantly chaotic....
A blow-away of the wall-thick layer of illusion that has settled in...
A bulldozing of the unstructured eighth blunder of the world...the existing work-ethic
A cyclonic-washout of the sea-side slum built out of a lackadiasical loser attitude...
A construction of the incomplete and derelict Bannerghatta flyover - the forgotten confidence and self belief...
The resurrection of god's gift to human kind...Hope...
The re-discovery of the fundamental existential life blood - Purpose....
The tracking down of the specialist of the disappearing act...Ambition..

Change..
One word that will achieve all these...

The first rule of fight club is not to ask any questions....
to this post...
or to anything in life...

Those Times...

2006-01-28T00:53:00.001+05:30

It was another time...another place...Closer to heaven...
The times we had...The memories...The fun..The petty fights....The Long hours...The blissful discussions....The feeling...The emotions...The ambitions...The highs...the lows...The rejuvenations...The small separations...The big conversations...The care...The warmth....The joys....The sorrows...The shocks...The recoveries......

And yet...ALL that are left are ashes of the burnt time...I remembered this seeing the ashes from my cigarette butt...What a powerful object...What a powerful object a relationship is.....

And ALL i can hope is to rise from these ashes...driven by hope n these fond n disturbing memories...to a journey that has to resist the disruptive power of the void.....a journey that is gonna take this lone traveller...WHERE???
but where......

The Psycho's work ethic

2006-01-17T00:23:00.000+05:30

I rot n die till deadlines come....Then I die for the deadline, and let the deadline die...
then I rot and die again......

The Psycho....in Chennai

2006-01-06T13:41:00.000+05:30

Chennai, a city that housed the psycho for such a long time....fails to hold magic now...
Girish was there, Amma, Appa, Veedu, naai kutty were there, but the charm has ceased to exist....
Why?
Am I a BAD man,
or because, the hype n expectations I used to build up everytime are no longer in the scheme of things?
Or because I feel lonely in Chennai...Yeah..that is the reason...The Lonely Psycho...yeah thats me...The mind often has its own reasons which reason can't explain....Prof Govi. thanks for that adage....

otherwise, Ranga - HBTY...hope u liked my gift...
Girish - thanks for givin me "Longing" the song, i hope i hav done enuf justice to an otherwise brilliant composition
Movies watched - Thavamai Thavamirundhu, Kanda Naal mudhal...
Both good stuff only....
The next Ance Sitco effort will not be a short film...that much for sure...we know what it is...
so watch out.....
Coming soon, to a computer screen near you....
Ance Sitco Productions present
"________________________ "

Don't Miss It.....

p.s
IIMB, I dint miss u....
I hope u dint miss me too...
I know u wont...

Yahaan sab kuch hain maa phir bhi....

2005-12-17T20:56:00.000+05:30

Lage bin tere mujko akela....

The 2 lines that I cried for last...
ARR, U are god...and u make me identify emotions that were hidden somewhere....
Rang de basanti is a god level album...lotsa songs are good..most notably the Paatshaala song, and Roobaaroo....The best ofcourse is Luka chupi..which contains the 2 lines i am obsessed with...
Ik Omkar and Tu bin bataaye are again songs that grow on u...so yet to reach peak with them,....
all in all am impressed with the album and it's takin away a lot of my study time...and am scared as hell whether i will cross the IIMB Term 2 bridge...I need a lotta prayers for that....
And no more booze till term end...yesterday nite was the last of all the booze nights.....
My other thambi a cylindrical piece that burns too soon for my liking... is my key companion...
Dont ditch me, brother....I need u to survive.....

This one is for you, Uncle...

2005-11-30T17:59:00.001+05:30

Atthi, You were an unsung hero,
You never got your share of recognition,
You never asked for it,
But you needed it, atleast for your family.

You forgave betrayers,
As you always did...
You took tough times with a smile,
And toiled with the same zest,
You were a puritan at all you did,
Perfection in even the mundane chores was your trademark.

You always had a word or two of motivation for all of us,
Your kids were lucky as hell to have you groom them,
Your spouse and relatives adored you for the smile you brought to their faces,
Even when you had your own troubles.

You lived a noble and meaningful life,
You deserved a better end,
God shouldn't have snatched you away from us....
So soon, and in a flash....like he did.

May your spirit guide your children and my aunt towards peace,
And happiness,
And success.....
Afterall, thats what you always wanted,
A peaceful and contented family.

I hope you saw from up somewhere,
The tears and cries of despair of all of us,
We just couldn't think,
That you aren't with us anymore,
Don't play your pranks uncle,
Bless us with your jokes, ideas and bread sandwiches sometime soon....
Atleast bless us with the tonnes of goodwill you always had.

Let the world be cleaner,
And let more of your innocence fill this,
This mad, bad world....

Why did that raging Scorpio have to lift you to heaven?
You had so much to offer this impure, opportunist world.

You were a rare GOOD man,
And now you are extinct....
But your spirits and memories live on,
To haunt me and so many of us....

The tie you gifted me last is still my favourite and is a lucky charm,
I will preserve it...like never before, its a promise...
Will I ever do as much to people as you?
I know the answer...and that is what hurts....

Harish J
in memory of a departed, LOVED uncle,
30.11.2005

Fast and Curious..

2005-11-16T19:47:00.000+05:30

Life is fast...I am curious to know whether am makin the right moves in the frenzied activity where more often than not I am just hurried into a decision with minimal cerebration.... "Movin on with the crowd who always seem to want to catch a next flight to paradise in five minutes, rather than THINKin and plannin the next decision" - this is what I am doin...but guys, Playin catch up with an F1 car is not my definition of FUN....

Well, this rather incoherent start is not an offshoot of another of my shots of tequila...Summers happened at IIMB... Midterms, unforgiving as ever, happened a day after the placements' invasion into my time was over....Even the so-called celebration of gettin a place to go for the summer was short and yet again hurried.....
Yeah at this not so appropriate juncture, lemme say where am goin for my internship...Microsoft, Location to be known, either for a consult or a marketin role.....And BK, had to refuse ur ex company in the process;)
Now, after all the waves of frenetic activity have died down, I am still not sure whether I chose what I wanted or whether it was "take what comes ur way and get the hell outta the process"...I am definitely happy and relieved abt the placement but whether it was the best i could have mustered, I dont really know...
Not so long ago I seemed to have decided to go all out for the biggies in marketing, and then this happens....
Que sera sera....I am gonna take this by the horns and see whats in store.....Life is definitely better than it was last week with the uncertainty that had clouded over IIMB junta...cus summers and the midterms are over....Midterms were not as bad as term 1...which is good for India;) AND yeah Here's an official congrats to my dear pal Sab, aka Garbaa...who made a dream offer at HLL...Vindi Banga...watch out...our man is gonna gun for u...

And term 1 CG is also out in the open...I am not one of the toppers at IIMB, That was no surprise to me....But I aint a misfit here either....Lets see what terms 2 n 3 have to dish out.....Was particularly happy with comin out on top atleast in one course...I do hav an A to show my grandchildren;) See, I am gettin better at being satisfied by whats on offer....Life goes on...Albeit too fast and with so much in offer that I end up missin more than what I take....

Heaving a sigh of relief....and signing off...

Can I unlearn the art of Unrestrained and uncontrolled eloquent bullsh***ing....?

2005-10-24T23:06:00.001+05:30

For a momentary sojourn to a different city or probably country to spend the interim time between the first year and second year in hell, the "place" (placement committee for the unaware) makes u go through well....more of hell....Ofcourse, these guys are doing a stellar job in gettin us placed and half of wat IIMB is, is due to these unsung heroes.....
But life is what the heck-tic......
A dozen resume submissions to every company that decided to put up shop in some of those god forsaken garages and under those banyan trees.....
If that were not enuf...we are subjected to relentless and unrestrained continuous discourses on the nuances of corporate life and the mantras to succeed in life, work and everythin else by some wise grey haired, paunchy guys in blazers....welll we are talkin abt the Pre Placement talks that we attend everyday......
And...its not all......we have some more fartin to do in the forms that ask u everythin from your dog's maiden name to the color of ur toilet's tiles....

What are ur three areas of focus in life in the last three years?
Me : Batting, bowling and fielding....

What do u think are ur strengths and weaknesses.?
Strength - farting
Weakness - well, it smells...

What do u think is ur greatest achievement in life so far?
My paunch....

Why do u want to join us?
Well, u offer free food and accomodation..

What are ur short term and long term goals
Short term : To sleep well today
Long term : To sleep well everyday

How do u see urself ten years from now
FAT....

Well all this uncalled for cynicism apart.....we do have a lot of work to do,..but it is somethin that is gonna serve us in the long term....ofcourse all pain is endured by believing gullibly, these glob statements...We are kinda privileged to be gettin all these opportunities....but the point is....
with the load of burdensome courses that unfailingly flummox the lesser mortal that I am, and the placement season heatin up every min....
It is time to say goodbye......
The big fat book of corporate finance that unceasingly talks of nett present value and the time value of money beckons...as if to prick me in my bottom sayin "Dude...study".....
Kotler, with his unique and unparalleled ability to scare the wits outta the reader by conjuring countless jargon in every page....is also callin me to pick him up and consume some of his gyaan....soon..
Its hence at the better interests of mankind that I sign off......

A blogger who entertains and enlightens...

2005-10-16T01:22:00.000+05:30

Read this blog guys...

http://www.livejournal.com/users/sonataindica/

Its full of satirical humor....and the dude who writes it happens to be my classmate...Mukka..

WTG Dude...

Gajini - Review

2005-10-02T11:08:00.000+05:30

I was delighted wen my iimb frnds called me to prarthana for a sat evenin Gajini show...I was lookin fwd to this movie from ages and a car ride to the theater was a welcome bonus...We picked a prime location from which to watch the movie and waited sincerely for an hour and a half for the movie to start...Ok on to the review...

Gajini started well and for those like me who dint see Memento (its english inspiration) the first half an hour was enjoyable. Surya was lookin very ominous with all those tattoos but I was disappointed seeing the spelling of "Cartridge" in one of the shots...
The surya - asin romance was contrived but again watchable. The irksome part was the ad-film maker and asin sequences..but it was bearable...
Songs sucked big time...Asin looked yuck in her intro song..."Oru maalai" song was also not well picturised...Very disappointing show by Harris Jayaraj...Summaa pazhaiya kaalathu re-recording pottu ob....
The switch of scenes between past and present was well conceived and i was lookin fwd to the second half over dinner durin intermission...
But..the second half sucked so badly that it got ridiculous beyond a point...the villian double action fundae was uncalled for and shitty....it was confusions galore beyond the first 15 mins after the interval.... Nayanthara made a royal fool of herself...and i was relieved wen finally the confusions came to an inevitable end....Surya, his presence, his charisma, his hardwork...in spite of all this, the movie fails to pass muster.
A watchable movie...but one expected much more from this promising director, actor, cast and crew...
Harris better do some justice to his projects.....so too Nayanthara...
Rajasekar was not noticed much...not much scope for him but for the residence shots...
I was disappointed to say the least after gajini....

A AA...Review

2005-09-29T08:31:00.001+05:30

Well, Don't fall for the track record at providing cheap humor that the director SJ Suryaah has...And don't even read this review beyond understanding that THESE KINDA MOVIES SUCK....
My points of concern read alarm
1. WTH is ARR doin in this movie...
2. How are junta actually standin such movies...vigadan gives it 41...i will give it 1 mark
3. The idea of live in partners is depicted in the cheapest and crappiest of ways...every scene in the first half had me uneasily, restlessly looking for the exit...
4. WTF does SJS think he is? a superman or what...his sense of impunity and lack of sens(itivity) is unparalleled...

For the record...i walked out for the first time in my life durin the intermission....
Anticipating better fare in Thotti Jaya, Gajini

Yamunaa theeram....Moksha...Bliss....Salvation..

2005-09-25T23:06:00.000+05:30

Song of the decade.....
Ok i jus wanted to tell the world that this is the song i love the most.....and ok

in other news...exams got over today....Term 1 at IIMB..is a thin of the past....14 days at home from tomorrow. I hope i dont get too hostel sick.....yeah...i will miss this place..that makes me work and realize that Life is challenging...
"E 317" adieu for 2 weeks...I will miss u....

Hmmm..lots songs and movies to fall in love with....

so dudes....watch out for a post soon from chn....my home away from home....

Kadavul Returns.....

2005-09-03T23:49:00.000+05:30

This aint the title of an arbit sequel to Anbe Sivam....To put some fundae on why i chose this shady and cuppax title for this blog...This is jus to let junta know that I am back to life.....After being mothered by the mid term results and cupping in quant....life seems good....results and CG thankfully don't hit me hard....Sorry to admit it...but the grades dint hurt me one bit...i am gonna put fight and see what happens....Que sera sera....
Ok...after some 3 nite outs..and again gettin raped by a quant quiz...i am back to watchin some movies....a days break later the nite outs and the fight starts....the next 20 days are crucial and votha...i will go down fightin;) But Music rocks.....
The songs that keep me going...and drive my floor guys mad....

Yamunatheeram from Anand...a gult movie...this song is like maajor stud level...
Uyire en uyire...From thotti jaya...Harris showin the bledy critics that he is capable of puttin fight and givin god level music....
Kandisa by Indian Ocean,....amazin song and i am MAD of this too...
Thee Pidithu from Arindhum Ariyamalum...this song is made for listenin after a shot of Vodka;)....atleast that's what it seems hearin from what junta here seem to say....
In the End it doesn't even matter - Linkin Park....Votha it's got hazaar attitude...... wenever an assignment or a test seems to psyche me out...this song enables me to put fight and get back the enthu....
Poongatru thirumbuma - Malaysia Rocks.....Edho en paattuku naan paattu paadi.....Line of the century,..
And much more.......

Life goes on;) Stayin close to the Average is the mantra...
The fight starts from tomorrow...
i hav 3 bunks left in all subs almost...so thats a chance to get back some lost sleep...and yeah...chennai will beckon in 3 weeks....not lookin fwd though...i am afraid i will get hostel sick;)
and today we had Pizza...after ages...
This post is one totally arbit piece of crap...
So i stop the ranting....
and hopefully i will be updatin the place with some sense soon,....Junta hoosh me for my nonsense..

Why does Life go on?

2005-08-19T19:27:00.000+05:30

“Why does life go on”

When Death is not an option…
It’s a decision of choice…
But when pained hearts are hands …
Which don’t and won’t let you go…
You have no choice….

When tomorrow is not an option…
But a reality you don’t want to face,
When sleep is an illusion that doesn’t help much,
In delaying the inevitable….
You look at the past in the eye…
And close your eyes…
In the hope that your eyes stay closed when that dawn comes….
If it still comes…
you close your eyes and wait for the day after…
Until Tomorrow ceases to exist…
If tomorrow does not come….

When prayers are not an option…
At seeking salvation, because love has duties attached…
You pray others will go on without you…
Knowing very well they can’t…
But that is what a prayer is…
And a prayer is not an option…

When pain is not an option…
It’s a cherished companion…
You spread the pain without knowing you do….
And your near and dear share it
even though you like enjoying it alone…
The pain must stop…albeit only for the others…

When tears are not an option…
But a matter of free flowing thought…
Words are powerless…
But tears fail you at keeping others happy…
Why are they for?
If they can’t ease one’s pain…
And multiply others’ pain to manifest in their eyes….
They are not an option…

Life shouldn’t go on…
But it will…
Damn It…

Harish Jayesh
18.8.2005

Ilayaraaja at his Rustic best - Thiruvaasagam....

2005-07-27T03:07:00.000+05:30

Kiss the Laptop vendor who delivered my laptop today...that meant i cud access the lan and swindle all kinds of good music...my music db grew boundlessly in 3 hours and among stuff i lapped up hungrily in my lappie were thiruvaasagam, a aa and rising....the latter two dint get the keypad click...(no mouse yet)....thiruvaasagam was mindblowing...riveting,..inspiring....tear inducing, it took me into a realm of bhakti...yet was so mellifluous and brilliantly simple.....reach is raaja's forte...and reach he did...he touched the deepest chords in my inside and something was so simple yet divine in the music....pooerukanum purandharanum...by bavadhaarini and raaja is my favourite....balumahendra's movie style song...yet a bhakti rasa filled song...thats raaja for you...a close second is "putril vaazharamum anjen" brilliantly orchestrated and rendered by raaja..."ammanaam anjum aare" that line takes the cake.......
guys zikr is no longer where the search for divine music ends....raaja has some answers....
Brilliant.....Tamil Nadu is freakin fortunate to have 2 gods composing magical songs on 2 gods....

Need for Sleep

2005-07-24T14:55:00.000+05:30

I know one guy who will gloat in sadistic pleasure reading this...my fellow wannabe B school grad in Vastrapur, Ahmedabad.....Yes sab, you finally got what u wanted....This foolish grad at B also has succesfully fallen trap to the "Lose sleep, Lose sense, Try and gain RG....But lose that also" syndrome..... Its been a while since lady luck bestowed a recharge card with sleep time of 480 mins on me....But then no cribbing...Drinking pepsi at midnight drives me high......And there is a group study mode here...so it aint bad after all...

The grind takes a day's halt today and i thot what better time to fill some space that i know will delight my large group of (yeah i included all 3 of you!!!) readers.....Wanna watch sarkar and catch Mangal Pandey's music soon....Sarkar btw was a great movie to watch...AB and AB rock...and i officially join the "Godfather and movies based on Godfather" fan club....Nayagan and Sarkar are worthy imitations of GF....And yeah...Watch out for Ance Sitco's next productions....The next Girish-Harish Film will take off soon,....the oneliner is ready,.. ;)
And nothin much else to say except that Chennai food rocks and atleast our mess food sucks....
Here's wishing all my readers a merry christmas and a happy new year......
Ok i will shut up and go to sleep now...

B days....

2005-06-29T10:36:00.000+05:30

Its been 4 days since i landed in the place i never imagined i would have a chance to spend 2 yrs in,...IIMB...
its fun being here and in campus life rocks..the seniors give u a complex...chilled out,nerdy,witty,voluble,knowledgeable...were they like me when they entered...or were they in leagues of their own,,,is it really possible to gain so much over a year....absolutely mind blowing achievers....
my batch too is full of achievers...I have my cup full...am lucky to be in such exalted company..and hopefully the wave shall carry this clearly ordinary guy thro....
God be with me...may your prayers be with me....
Cricket,Tsepak,Basketball are the sports....
Food is good...variety fare..am sure to cross 110...;)

Ok...will update more as the grind intensifies...

The Making of ABCD

2005-06-21T18:29:00.000+05:30

Ance Sitco Presents.... (All three screens in black..text in white, a red underline is there of course)

A Girish-Harish Film

ABCD (America Bound Confused Desis)

Feels good to read these lines aint it....
Actually this was the motivation to make ABCD...to see that screen "A Girish-Harish Film"....

But these kinda crazy motivations are infact very important in life...its been an amazin experience making ABCD..donno how it will shape up as a watching experience..feedback from viewers so far have been thankfully good..
Ok..no more crappin...straight to the making of ABCD...

Makki has to be thanked eternally for providing the spark in bangalore to Girish when the last thing Giri was supp to do was thinkin of scripts for a film(He was there for an IIM intvw)....but strange situations have significant outcomes.....
Then, that spark was harnessed into something that vaguely resembled a script...Of course we preferred to call anything that had dialogues and scene descriptions running over 10 pages a script....
These, I must tell u happened in the last week of April...we have to thank GMail for providing us the mechanism to do reviews of scripts from our locations...me in hyd and Giri in Chn,...
Ofcourse half, infact most of the scenes were conceived over the phone...so god bless BSNL too....
Then....
As always we went idle for a fortnight....for no particular reason,,,thats why I said "as always"....
Giri's vacation, my release formalities, laziness, lack of equipment and other lame excuses.....
But ok...we somehow regained our senses and Giri with Prasanna,RR and Sriram (The average age of these three should be 17!!!).... we started shooting ABCD... (How valuable these 3 young fellas were, words cant describe....)
Oh yes the cast was decided sometime before that...

Till june 4 we dint have much to show as progress in the movie...but then suddenly after I finally reached chennai....Thanks to divine intervention,. we managed to muster enthu and to shrug off our laziness....Yes, June 5-Jun 18 were thirteen days of frenetic activity for the crew and cast of ABCD....
We shot at Fruit Shop on Greams Road with Swetha..
At Somasundaram Ground Road,T.Nagar (Barath,Anurag,Prasanna)
At Sapthagiri Roadside Restaurant,T.Nagar(Raama,Vasanth)
At K.V.Colony West Mambalam(Mrs Mohanaa )
At A temple in T.Nagar...(Vasanth)
And some more shots indoors....(suraj, His mom)
And shooting was wound up on 15th Jun...

the next three days were as much a learning experience as three days can manage to pack for u....
somehow these novices turned editors and sound engineers..God bless the viewers....

but all in all we were happy to learn by doing...and that in itself is for us..a victory...

6.18 am on June 18 ....ABCD.avi was ready.....

June 18 and June 19, ABCD was screened at friends' and relatives' houses....and we must say they liked what they saw....

June 19 evening ABCD Cds were burnt....to be circulated to our outside chennai well wishers...

June 20...Girish Boarded Nav Jeevan express...a contented co-director of ABCD......

To those who see ABCD after this..please pass on ur feedback to us.....we appreciate it lots....

God is great...as always....

Time flies....Memories are Permanent...

2005-06-09T18:18:00.000+05:30

Its been an absolute super fast express ride....Life at hyderabad....and to actually end up learning so much at a place that was intended to be fate's punishment for Harish Cribbing Jayesh, is another epitome to that great law of nature "Every second presents a learning opportunity"... I totally totally enjoyed reliving the highs and lows in Hyd during the Journey back home in a not so comfortable APSRTC Bus...Man, hasn't hyderabad and TCS been the blessing in disguise God had in mind...His arrangements and moves are all perfectly orchestrated and have the larger picture in mind...To learn and practise Emotional independence and exercise financial independence and to enjoy living life doing work that you dont like and still learn... are MUST DOs for any 20 something pampered kid from the world that is in the other side of the US of A...
These last few weeks at home before commencing the next leg of my journey at IIMB, are so damn blissful...To chill heels in the cozy realms of parental affection...and to indulge in all the collegiate "chinna chinna aasais" one more time...I am blessed....
Chennai hasn't changed...So hasn't Hyd in my absence....Life goes on for those there...So does life for my parents...they still do the same things they used to do when I was at SVCE, or for that matter at PSBB.....Again...I have a lot to learn...how many times will this be reinforced....
Radio Mirchi, The mega serials, Noon shows at these theaters in chn, Our eat - out spots, dreams net, books,FRIENDS....My average day is so damn well composed out of these.....
BTW am reading To kill a mocking bird...have watched chandramuki now...and so too Ullam Ketkume....Waiting for Anniyan...
Kumari song from Anniyan is a key to attain BLISS..Shankar "genius" Mahadevan....man, is he a divine singer.....

So long then....

Bye bye Hyd....

2005-05-27T12:43:00.000+05:30

TCS released me last week from duties officially...but am still sittin in my cabin n typin this a week after that....some duties need not have the official stamp on them...
i loved every moment of life this week here....and this like all good things is gonna end...
tcs won't prob have me ever;)...unless ofcourse some time after mba i return...which i wont rule out....
thanks for life at tcs for makin me learn lots....and all the ppl here....
Now am gettin to chn to spend some time with our(g and mine) pet project;)
and hopefully rest for the grind thts ahead..

No more unlimited comp access....that means Dreams net here i come every day....

Among other thins BOSE i wanna see...
Sachin I saw...not too impressed...time pass....
Kanaa Kanden...that Moolai thirugum song is splendid...decent movie...should hopefully run for 100 days...
Chandramuki and Mum Exp have not seen..will see soon...i think am one of the few tams not to have seen superstar's latest movie...dont curse me for that...

what else....am bugged of travellin but can't help it i guess....cus travellin is the only way of gettin from and to hyd and chennai......

A trip back in time....

2005-05-04T18:55:00.000+05:30

April 29th 5.30 pm - A bunch of Nine guys and girls left TCS Hyderabad for a tour to places in and around the Mangalore area in Karnataka. The reason for the genesis of the trip is that Chaitra , my frnd , lives in that area and she nursed an idea like "Let's all explore the areas around my house....and were there a few places worth visiting....
April 29th 7 pm - Boarded the APSRTC bus to Mangalore.
After a good munch of Lays, Kurkure et al, Stopped at hoysula for a quick dinner. "Fiza" the movie was played and yours truly enjoyed "Piya haji ali " lots and was touched by Bose in the ear phones and Fiza in the screen....good BGM for riveting scenes in the movie.....
The next morning Jay the strong man atleast when it comes to travel became "Pukey"Man... The Shiraadi ghat in the Western ghats gave me a very stern welcome - Yours truly puked 4 times with sound effects as ppl here try to remind me...and apart from that "Nausea"stalgic event our landing at Surikumeri village in Dakshin Kannada District was peaceful...Chaitra's house is called "Kuvekodi" and is in Surikumeri....After what was a nice bath and an even better lunch for famished souls...we went aboard the Toyota qualis to "venture" into the woods towards Thala Cauvery....The route we chose to take was not the usual one and was in every sense "The Road Less Travelled". From Chaitra's grandpa's house "Gaalivana" in Thodikana which is as deserted and rocky as villages can get, we took a very sinuous and rocky road that joins miraculously at Thala cauvery - birth place of the bone of contention of TN and Karnataka....After what was a "rock and roll" ride in the open back of a "Jonga" (Jeep for the less knowledgeable) we reached Thala Cauvery at sunset time and was it a sight to relish.....
After what were 45 mins or so of absolute bliss at thala cauvery we came down the same road lesser travelled at night singing songs from movies ads and even mega serials....;)
A sumptuous dinner and intro sessions at thodikana grand pa's house later....Day one April 30 came to a halt....

Day 2 - May 1 2005...
Early rise at 6 am, then we all proceeded in another of those jonga's with our super parthasarathi - Gowreesh Maava - to Devaragundi - a waterfall that sadly had very little water but super sceneries around it....After lettin our feet dip in the water, we went to a fish pond "Meenagundi" where ravaging fishes ate all that we offered them, right out of our hands....Excellent feeling that being bitten by a toothless fish;) Then a visit to a temple later we proceeded to a hanging bridge "Aranthodu " on payaswini river...Yours truly rocked the hanging bridge and scared a few innocent tourists;)....After what was a long long ride....we went to St Mary's Island near Udupi in Malpe Beach.....The speciality of this place is that the beach has an island which is a 40 min boat ride from the coast....Brilliant swades like boat ride it was and ofcourse in that island's beach I took the plunge only to spoil my cell phone but still had a whale of a time....
Dinner that night was at "Diana" - famous for its ice cream variety "Gud bud" a Mangalore special...So that and a drive later, we reached "Patrame" another village where one more uncle of Chaitra "Prasad Maava" stays....it was a super place "Panchavati" their farm had a camp fire waiting for us...A nice camp fire later we all slept tired souls....

Day 3 May 2 2005 -
The water day....after a good breakfast ....the swimmer in me proceeded with all others towards "Shishila " River...where we all had a great time teaching, learning and performing various strokes in swimming...I was a hippo in water both in size and nature;)...That was essentially it that day ....we came back to surikumeri to catch a bus back to the bustling city life.....What a trip it was.....The villagers and chaitra's relatives were a revelation...they set me into deep thinking mode of how life should and can be....Keeping things simple, offering hearty help..I take my hat off for all of them..the entire family....All in all lots to learn from the trip...What ? that's a post in itself....

The cast - Sandeep,Chaitra,Manu,Bops,Chaitanya,Dharani,Anupama,Ice and urs truly.....

Life is good.....

p.s : the return bus journey was zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....14 hrs of sleep...contented hearts, tired bodies, dreamy souls........

The Tied Rubber tube/Telephone wire made "ball" Incident and BOSE

2005-04-25T12:16:00.000+05:30

Weird topic...I know...But when I was taking an evening 3.5 km walk alone to Hyderabad Central to buy BOSE, I saw nine guys engaging in a entertaining activity that held my attention for 10 mins....and anything that is worth my attention is worth a blog entry...Ofcourse there are other thins also that mite be discussed in this entry...

Back to the Small black ball incident...The location was a small mud shuttle court thats jus in the entry area of a road side park in SriNagar colony.....Nine small bags were hangin in trees that shelter that area from the sun durin daytime but ....the time was 6.15 in the evenin and the trees' primary role was to be a holder for all the bags of our protagonists....the nine guys were standin in a circle and a small black ball made of telephone wire/rubber tube was the object of their and a whole lot of "watchers from the sidelines'" attention....and man were they talented....
kickin the ball to each other and keepin the ball in "play", their ball skills were downright amazing.....One fella particularly was dexterous in the way he received the ball with his stomach area and nursed it like a baby before transfering it to the back of his leg and kicking it precisely to the person he intended...all of them were born entertainers and yours truly had a great time seeing the guys enjoy the game and the attention they were getting....But boy these guys deserve their place under the sun....

Bose was purchased finally...(Girish was particularly particular that I buy the album) and man it's one of the albums of the year....
Aazadi...is absolutely the patriotic song of the year...The orchestral style "Jaya Hinds" are brilliantly supplemented by our man ARR singing his lines....Especially brilliant is the way he says "Lok tere ek vatan" and "Azadi" and "Lakhon dilon ki"....excuse me if the lyrics aren't spot on....
And one more song that evoked a "play-tears on the eye, replay-goosepimples" routine some seven times was Zikr...Again by ARR..man is he the FEEL singer.....Absolutely the man to deliver songs that have feeling...And the Allaah Hu....chorus and the mantraic repetitions are mind blowing...ARR and the lyricist Javed saab are absolute geniuses in complementing music and tune with rhythmic lyric...

Sonu was at his lilting best in his two songs and "Des ki Mitti" was brilliant and reminded me of "En kaadhale"....
Guys if you haven't experienced Bose yet....please....It's a journey into our Indianness...Patriotism as girish said is an even better feeling to experience than Love;)

July 2003-May 2005 : A Journey

2005-04-14T17:55:00.000+05:30

It's been a while since a very pleasant storm struck Girish's and my life....and We are sure that it's a life transforming bit of news..Girish and myself saw the gods granting us our long yearned for wishes - A seat in the IIMs and has it been a windfall...Girish has made it to the best of them all- IIMA, and yours truly will by his grace go to IIMB....I just wanted the "sinking in" to be completed before attempting a post..hence the delay...

It all seems like a blur- the years of effort, the disappointment of not making it last year, the pressures at work that almost made me stay in office the last 48 hours before the exam, a potentially dangerous accident that I survived with the least damage possible, the hours spent reading Business World and stuff I was totally unbothered or simply unaware of, the early morning 10 km drives in semi asleep state to the GD PI classes, the numerous chat sessions with Raama, the thousands spent in the phone discussing anything vaguely related to CAT and B-Schools with Girish, the hours spent analysing SIMCATs, the hits made to Pagalguy.com hunting down any bit of gyaan related to MBA, the pep talks of Hyd junta, the numerous times Self doubts almost got the better of me and threatened to consider calling it quits, All in all I must say God has been very very kind to me and that I am one of the most fortunate fellows on Earth...

It all started when on July 3 2003, My joining date at TCS got postponed from July 16 to October 6 and I was suddenly left with nothing to do for the next three months....That's when Raama and Kaushik Rajan asked me to consider preparing for CAT 03...Strange to note that this was how a passion was finally given the go- ahead....Something had always stopped me from writing or rather preparing for CAT....I needed that bit of "goof-up" from the TCS-HR to convince me to shrug off the laziness and put my head down....
For some strange reason, some one decided to cancel that CAT, which I had done very well ( infact that still remains my best ever CAT to date), and the re-test was a flop mainly because I just could not digest living away from my mother in Hyderabad when she was undergoing a surgery in Chennai....Well, No excuses but that's the truth.... and I still remember the LONG train journey from Chennai to Hyderabad after messing up that CAT on Feb 15 2004....BK and Vatsa were there at the station and I cried as much as I have ever...I still remember BK calling me from home that night and I spoke for 45 mins from the train toilet;)
Numerous mails, phone calls, and a needless depression later, I started to stop fooling around and face the truth and start all over again...That has to be the best decision I have made....God has carried me from then....May 04 - April 05...this entire year has been centered around the CAT...and I am delighted and thankful to god to be where I am....
Girish flying down after an MS to join my "dream chase" was a piece of magic that God decided to enforce....and our journey together has been as it always has been...
The moral of the story is something I have made a part of my Belief set...."GIVE 100% to whatever you do WITHOUT FEAR OF FAILURE"...It required this episode in life to reinforce that....

Sorry People if this was a bore to read, or too "me-centric" but I thought some readers might draw inspiration from an example of the fact that God's grace, a dream, honest effort and good guidance from family and friends can lead to that dream being realized.....

GOD IS GREAT...Hope he carries me in my future endeavours as he has so far.....

Animal Farm...Parable beyond compare

2005-04-04T11:32:00.000+05:30

If there has to be a book that enlightens, entertains and keeps you riveted to the end that too in a matter of 100 mins and 120 pages...it has to be this book by George Orwell...
The best example to cite for "Short and sweet"...the same can be said of "Love Story" and "Alchemist" too...but this one has to rank number one jointly with The Alchemist...

People who know what it is to be in a work environ, this is one book that you can relate to, in every page and every little detail. Ofcourse, for the fresher too, it will go down as a very informative and will teach the keen reader some things to be wary of in the workplace...

What Power can do, and what egos do to an organization, and how the managers manipulate the workers, the power the voluble talker commands in any organization, and the naivette of the lower middle class....All these are brilliantly depicted in a fable par excellence...

"All animals are equal but some are more equal then others" - though this has been oft repeated...the truest truism of all....

How every noble cause is vulnerable to manipulation and how important regulation is and how dangerous over regulation is, the plus and minus of democracy, the leadership styles of managers, why a workhorse is called a WORK HORSE..Great for readers who like to go the inferential route after reading books..I would defly want to read it again and extract more gyaan...

"Music" Reloaded (into moi life)....

2005-03-31T15:06:00.000+05:30

Man..Life at home is different with continuous music in the background. No wonder I can't pat myself enough on my back for my decision to buy that CD MAN at last....Thanks to lesser work in TCS and a renewed interest in reading..I rush home to get hold of any piece of literature(The Hindu qualifies for this as well;)) hidden motive being - listen to the amazin music that I play on the CD Man....It used to be walk man before...but the continuity and quality has improved since Walk became CD....;)
Bryan Adams with his "Cloud Number Nine...", "The only thing that looks good on me", "Inside Out" etc and ofcourse "Summer of 69" is high on my playlist....

As far as Rajaa is concerned...there are some 120 songs from the 80s that are all Beauties...some chupaa rustums that I look for being..."Pon Maane Sangeetham", "Naan Paadum Mauna Raagam" and "Vaan uyarndha solaiyile"..

Out of the ARR wonders "Mudhal murai killi" and "Oru poiyaavadhu sol" were recent addictions...

Comin to Latest stuff...My respect and awe for Vidyasagar is growin by the day...Man
that "Vizhiyum Vizhiyum" from sadhurangam is abso-bloody-lutely the victory of good ol' melody....So too his "Konja neram" from chandramukhi....His "Vamba velaikku" from Ji had me dancing yday;)

Kaadhal and its "Unakkena iruppaen",Kaadhal theme, and ofcourse " thottu thottu" made me realize one thing...Haricharan is the next big thing in Tamil music...absolute bliss each time i listen to these three songs....Taht female harini sudhakar is very cute in singing that "Kaadhal" last line of saranam....

Among other favourites..."Kaadhal Valarthen","Kan pesum vaarthai", "ninaithu ninaithu" get the psycho in me going...Especially, hats off to Karthik in "Kan pesum vaarthai"...;ROFL remembering the mimicry session on singers that we had in Giri's place this weekend in chn....

So much for my Musi-Mania....and my musing mania on my musi-mania....
Suggest more such songs which i can load and enjoy my evenins....

p.s
Check out the side bar of my blog.,..It now contains the latest books I read...

Sachin...Who are you?

2005-03-16T14:27:00.000+05:30

As the little master trots towards his tenthousandth run i was tempted to take a tour down memory lane...I thought Sachin Tendulkar must have read "Who Moved my Cheese" by Spencer Johnson...Sachin merits being studied as a case in top b schools as an example of a successful professional who changed with the times...The causes that necessitated the changes being....Himself, his team, his fans, his opponents, his critics, and fate.... Change is a permanent entity and there is no one who is not a victim to change,...but whether all adaptation is positive is a question to ponder over indeed....
In sachin's case, A fast ferrari encountered a small traffic jam in a race track, and had some riding to do in a crowded street, but the changes made to the engine and the car were such that it drove the same way even after the track cleared and the conditions perfect for high speed driving. This sums up the effect of change on Sachin the master blaster....
With no offence meant to sachin, He needs to take a feather out of Sehwag's book and rediscover the joys of batting, that he gave to millions worldwide. Making batting a laborious exercise is a compulsion of lesser mortals, and they dont resort to it by choice, So when someone as ridiculously gifted as Sachin bats like a worker bee, it is a loss to world cricket...
One sincerely hopes and prays that once the self inflicted burdens of the 35 centuries and the Top scorer in world cricket are off his shoulders, he again makes a symbolic debut in world cricket and starts as he did as a cherubic teenager who was a stealth bomber with bat in hand. Setting and beating Records don't merit genius, but delighting crowds and scaring the s**t of bowlers requires GENIUS...and when a genius bats like a overworked factory labourer struggling to make ends meet, One can only pity the vissicitudes of the human psyche...
Sachin...You know yourself like the world knows you...That's what we all want....

Life is Good- Tour diary...

2005-03-10T16:29:00.000+05:30

Man...Spending the supposedly last three months of life at tcs is peaceful...the withdrawal process has slowly started...i have started to dream of life beyond the confines of the crowded cubicle and life beyond coding...well, there is a lot of unknown about my life in the b-school and am looking forward to an exploratory and insightful journey...BTW...
Yeah...I had been to delhi and mumbai for my IIT B and NITIE interviews..and more than the interviews i enjoyed the trips...man..here goes a tour diary...

Saturday 5th Mar....
Alarm set at 5.15 got up at 5.40 and pedal eduthen first thing in the morning..Great article on Budget in the bathroom....Then...Rushed in the bike to pick up my call letter from my aunty's house in sec'bad 20 kms from my house and realized i was running out of time cus it was 6.40 and i had to check in before 7.30 cus the flight was at 7.50....
finally i drove 20 kms in 15 mins...god saved me...was drivin at 80 mosta the time...but all was well...i made the airport after parkin my bike in her house and the auto guy was fast....
The flight to delhi was spent reading, finishing the last 100 pages of "The IITians" and devouring jack fruit chips that chaitra had got from her home town...Good book and great chips...
Rohit (My cousin, Jayant's bro) was in the airport in his car and we raced to their house where i idled the rest of the day...chattin and browsin...that evenin we went to a top college cultural fest where I realized that Bombay was not half as good as delhi in the ABI (Averabge Beauty Index).."Had a good time;)"

Sunday 6th Mar...
Got up reallly late for the interview...was at 2 pm...arnd 9 am i realized i had no SOP...so wrote one down in 30 mins and then read statistics in the car while goin to IITD...GD was more a parliament meeting and managed to butt in a few times and spoke well...
Interview expectedly was on Statistics...did ok and had meals in an IIT canteen...Man it felt good and i missed studyin in an IIT for the nth time...
That evening was non descript...and so was the night...

Monday 7th Mar
Got up late rushed for the airport and reached the boardin exit at 8.45 for the flight which was to leave delhi at 8.50...i missed all the buses and they had to drive a qualis to take me to the flight thru the runways...;) and after a round of apologies slept off the flight journey and was rudely awakened by the pretty air hostess Anne..she asked me to fasten my seat belts and prepare for landing...and at 11 reached mumbai..where my periamma had been waitin with the car....Went to their house...slept and arnd 3 pm walked out to have a feel of mumbai...
was damn happy seein the 100s of doves flutterin away to glory arnd a tree and a fence and inspired me to take a movie like Nayagan;) Mani touch na summaavaa...
Then browsed to post a comment on that;) and ofcourse went to eat Chaat...,and spent 2 hrs readin The Week in a park....Felt good bein my own companion and wanderin in the streets..After a temple visit after months....came back home to sleep and prepare for NITIE...

Tue 8th Mar
Got up reasonably in time at 6 for an eight am interview.and after a delicious aloo paratha breakfast which ate into my time....I still was jus in time thanks to a great drive by my cousin to the insti...Met Bk's cousin Bala there and had a good time relishin the feeel of bein the only 2 guys not in ties....After a good PPT by the NITIE guys and a Nice GD, had a long wait for my interview...Did some time pass with a tvm class mate and a few TIME batch mates...Interview was fine and rushed in the suburban trains to catch Balalee run thru the Paki tail....
Again had a flight to catch to Hyderabad...this time it was very irritating to see the plane do a girivalam around the run way for an hour awaiting take off...Finally wat was supp to be a 1 hr ride turned out to be a 3 hour agonizingly boring journey...and thankfully reached Hyd before the auto guys start askin for dugna lagaan;)
The day had a perfect finish with a telephonic crossword session with sab at arnd 11 pm...;)
All in all it was a nice tale of 3 cities and 3 flights and 2 interviews..and ofcourse ME

Self Destruction Made easy...

2005-02-17T18:14:00.000+05:30

An Indian urban youth with access to his needs, and with a bit of money and feeling of financial security inevitably falls into satan's most lethal plot. the last bit abt financial security is an optional condition...
Invariably he believes there is some one who was manufactured "customised to suit his requirements" and was hidden from his eyes for so long...and God deemed it appropriate to show the girl of his dreams at a juncture when he basically has nothing else to think about...;) Love is an Idle mind's greatest creation.... And a weapon of mass destruction which bull dozes many a budding career and truncates the stretch of imagination of many more....in a few cases it does manage to titillate and inspire though shortly...If god were to ever create a balance sheet of the good and the bad experienced by the head over heels lover....it would be ridiculously lopsided...and an idle mind and a young mind which otherwise unleashes great ideas also wastes hours thinking about bull crap...The key to the great indian institutions being great are that they load the student's with so much work that the mind wanders less and the careers hence meander less...
All the ABC College of arts and science devdasses bunk classes to make passes at lasses...Ofcourse the Five point someones from the IITs also are "Love Girl", she aint after me...so i want Grass" types...but the link among all these guys are they possess an idle mind which is an ideal environ for hell to break loose...
The movies glorifying the art of using the great young mind to generate trash and bull crap...are key players in the Catch them young..throw them down the drain phenomenon..
The great Indian college goer needs a better deal... India is lost in the trance that the internet and cable television has created...Our youth rarely have burning ambition and most achievers are products of the rat race and peer pressure phenomenon...The only burning ambition in the minds of most are to WOO an opposite sex human being....
Harmones rather than grey cells drive the youth.....That is god's mistake...But someone somewhere in power can do something to reduce the extent and frequency of the
havoc created...

India needs to grow as a country...for that the youth need to grow up and fast....

Chennai Weekend...

2005-02-14T17:38:00.000+05:30

Well, Thanks to TCS, my friend and quiz partner Chaitanya, and a lot of other associates, I had the luck of travellin to chennai, fully sponsored by my company...well..to attend the regional finals of a tcs wide quiz;) that the quiz turned out to be a not so great event is another story...;) but flyin to chn and back is worth a mention....yours "fool"ly has travelled by air on only 2 other occasions...so LAGEY RAHO;) i said to myself...
Comin to the chn trip...it was not a great trip and all;) but VOKEY...and most importantly...I had the privilege of listenin to a gr8 mimicry session by RR...the next Balamurali Krishna or even more...Absolute senseless stuff..but who cares...fun is at a premium these days...
Two sessions of cricket are worth a cursory mention....my batting is not as bad as i thot it was....
and my left arm spin is surprisingly DECENT;) i managed to pitch the ball most times and thats an achievement;)
Black the movie was also part of the two day package and so was a 4 hr chat session discussin somethin that has no solution;) some people see no problem to find a solution...but one's eye sees a problem where another sees opportunities...so lets keep things complex and leave it at that....
Finally my frnd from hyd came home and we proceeded to fly back to andhra pradhesam...in the flight I met one GOOD OLD man with classical views on Globalization and merger of nationalized banks,....it was at the end of a 30 min conversation that bordered between enlightening and fascinating that I found out thro' his visiting card and a brochure that he casually gave me that...He was the Gen Secretary of the All India BankEmployees Association..Mr Venkatachalam..or CHV...Big man, great knowledge,....Humble nature..Well, humility is a commonality that links all great ppl aint it;)

Well, after an expensive auto journey I reached home in Hyd to sign off a not so great but not so non descript either weekend....

PS: this was inspired by a long and earth shattering account at inbetweengap.blogspot.com;)

Page 3...

2005-01-27T15:08:00.000+05:30

Well, this is the third consecuitive movie review type of article in this blog and not much of a surprise cus i dont write blog entries until somethin or someone impresses me..so Again it was a case of an off beat movie throwing me in raptures...and set my mind thinking and for a fleeting while my heart racing towards the reformist path...ofcourse the mind took over and postponed any reformist streak for later cus it had more pressing demands to be met in the next month..
Ok goin to the movie review....
Outstanding Treatment of a topic which has not been seen in Indian cinema, about a Page 3 journalist and her journey seeking meaning in her profession....The movie is a parody on the lifestyles of the rich and famous and how hollow their lives are...How values take a backseat on the pretext of doing "business" and how some journalists ARE meaningful....
Man, the scenes are bound to create a lasting impact on the viewer and some disturbing incidents shown in the movie set me thinking on whether a few of our own people mite bite the perilous path to fame and slip on the road to so called success...
Well, if you got 2 hrs time jus rush and watch the movie...u wont be disappointed...
Man, This Madhur Bandharkar rocks...so too Atul Kulkarni....short but a memorable role...

Hope I see quite a few happy viewers of Page 3 in this blog....Once I get some more views on this...I plan to write a long post on the crux of the movie..and my comments on the same...

Swades....A ray of hope for Indian cinema

2005-01-17T15:46:00.000+05:30

Yesterday, I just realized how much my priorities are screwed up, I was doing things that border on mundaneness at best...and eventually missed out on something, which as a film buff , I should have done without any intellectual effort whatsoever from my side....How the hell did I miss Swades for so long..
Hats off to Ashutosh for reiterating the power of simplicity...the depth of emotion and the profound it can convey...A classic specimen for those who need a lesson on keeping things simple..
ARR clearly has scored the best bgm of his career in Swades...The title music is unconventional and addictive...typical ARR stuff,...The "village house scenes" are elevated to a higher plane by the BGM...i haven't seen any ARR movie Packed with so much bgm that too so many different moods....The highlight being the BGM that creates a sense of expectation and excitement when the turbine generates power...
Yeh Taara gave me goose pimples and had me crying in the middle...And Shahrukh tellin the class "Main chalta hoon" was a leaf from the mani book...
Understated,Simple,Honest,Purposeful,Clear....A movie Ashutosh has made at his own terms with none of the cliches that continually pull down mainstream cinema from Great to good...The length is a clear indicator of the director's intent and his "no compromises" delivery...Lakshya and now Swades are cases in point of the ineptness of the Indian audience...A dangerous trend that should be bucked at the earliest...Murder,Khwahish...Well..the indian youth prefer lip service of a different kind...but thankfully Ashutosh and Farhan still exist...there lies the hope for indian cinema...

Spiel-Bound

2004-12-27T19:39:00.000+05:30

After 6 days at work on what was "officially" a 4 day week, I decided to treat myself with "The Terminal" after a goooood sunday lunch. What was expected to be a movie watching experience I would appreciate turned out to be an un-forgettable cupla hours...Absolutely brilliant characterization. 20 Minutes into the movie I started to wonder if the movie was a bit too laid back and slow paced...But That's where Spielberg scores...What he sketches with care in the first half hour is the back bone of the next hour and a half of absolute bliss... Most of the great directors use repetition and patterns to haunt and sink in the impact on the viewer... That is one of the high-lights of the movie...The "Napoleon-Josephine" dialogues and the Daily visits to the immigration counter of Viktor are classic examples...
Though I don't go to movies with a note pad in hand to take down the messages the director conveys to the viewer, I appreciate subtle hints at Values and an underlying message, of course, I hate it if the hero utters a 20 min dialog just to deliver the cliched "Message".... Subtlety is yet another hallmark of the great directors..
The importance of the Human Touch to business and the hidden pointers on how in-human today's workforce have become are totally of relevance to working professionals. The power of "Service with a Smile" and how you can win people to your way by just being a true honest helpful guy.....these were stuff I felt I should try and emulate if not in one month atleast over a period of time....

I have added Terminal to my list of all time faves....Strangely enough was reminded of Anbe Sivam Lots while I watched terminal....

ok....on to other stuff/..cant thank god enuf for saving my frnds from death...Oh man....20 mins....what a diff it made.....
Desply wanna see Marina and good ol' bessy in such a mess....How I miss seeing my beloved chennai go through all it has.....
I hope the new year dawns a non calamitous one for India....and the world...

p.s
Tsu-Nami - Hindu tells me is Japanese for Harbour-Wave.....

p.s

Mahesh Murthy visited this place....And a bit of CAT news

2004-12-25T12:39:00.000+05:30

Well, Blogging certainly is "strongly connecting" this already shrunk world....Well a bit of graph theory there...
But point is....my fortnightly source of inspiration, Mahesh posted a comment in my post that showcased his article..Well, need I say more...Thanks...

Also, let me also break my CAT results here officially.
99 percentile...
2 IIM calls. From B and K...dunno what I and L need...
To B or Not To B is the question.....

Smart vs Street Smart....

2004-12-14T09:38:00.000+05:30

The human mind never ceases to think....Well, one of the things that this non descript has been mulling over in the last few days is, smartness as in acuity or sharp thinking and good problem solving skills, a la the IIT topper or even the Class XII "Bright Student" might infact be a gift that borders on being a luxury than being a "must have"... What really matters in this time and age as the flood gates are opened for a cross cultural collage is Street Smartness....The more I think on this...the more I feel there is to learn from the Battle scarred hawkers and auto rickshaw drivers in the street...
Application and Presence of mind are more at value outside the cozy confines of the examination hall or the cramped class room. Haggling with a cantankerous vegetable seller is something that you will do more often than solving a definite integral that only ten others solved in the history of mankind. But sadly, though the two facets of one's personality are not defined anywhere as being mutually exclusive, finding a student who finishes his graduation who is a street smart smartie is something that's as difficult as it's been for India to find a Kapil Dev.
My little tryst with the corporate war room has made me all the more convinced that tackling real life situations where the complexity is introduced by human interaction , human emotions and egos are much more the key to one's climb up the ladder than being the next Ramanujan....But when one considers the kind of training and conditioning that the grey cells of the human mind undergo, their cousins- the 'presence of mind' cells are hardly given any attention in schools...Well, there is definitely an area of concern to the HRD of India because, India relies so much on its B Schools and empiricism as the sources of its managers. Indian Managers are moulded either in the two year high speed b school factory, or in the 'n-year super slow grinding mill' that the industries are... What I am looking at is the process of becoming a manager starting when the kid reaches middle school. The two Manager churning factories need pre processed inputs rather than 'raw' talents. The Mob psychology that drives Indian graduate and Post graduate education today needs a drastic shake-up. That can happen only if the students are in a position to know what they need to become to optimise their strengths by the time they leave school. This is what is to me 'Street Smartness'. Basically, 'What I need to do so that I do what I can do, well" rather than "I do what I need to do to be well to do" should be the mantra.
Also, we should deter the rat race phenomenon that competitive entrance exams have become in India. Atleast 85% of Entrance exam takers are victims of peer or parental pressure. Again, these exams test how smart you are. If we groom street smart youngsters, firstly the number of aspirants of entrance exams/ job interviews will come down, secondly we will see the job satisfaction index in the industry soar. There are a few other plus points to this...Each of that will merit an article. But that I shall reserve for later.
Kids should be encouraged to score grades in attitude, mental toughness and discretion rather than Maths,Physics and Chemistry. Not saying that these subjects are not to be there...But these other subjects need to be also there.... There has to be a curriculum upheaval. How, Its for the HRD to decide..I am not a qualified authority on this....

Well, A final confession, this article arose out of a realization of how woefully "street dumb" ,yours truly is....

Unwind...

2004-12-04T15:40:00.000+05:30

This one is dedicated to Sab who has been nagging me to write somethin down to earth and not some so called "abstract?" stuff...
Hey...the intent here is never to write abstract for the sake of it...but just to write what I feel..but still...here is something....

Life here has been full of night outs in office and going home if at all at nights in the biting cold...arnd 2 am and food habits have gone for a toss...once in twelve hours is no justice for this hogger...I miss bonda bakodas and fries and sundals...these pizzas and burgers dont quite match up...
and yet, there has been a few good things happening in life...a few good frnds are shaping up here..and there are quite a few moments i savor...not least of all the brilliant time I had wen sab was here last time..
Chennai beckons me now..and no trip has been more hyped than ranga's impending visit..suffices to say..that is on my mind every day...
Well, There is a bit of catching up to do with music here...no tuch at all with music and cricket...leave alone the B mags...have to start that soon..GD PI here i come;)
my mates Ranga and Sab have been discussing the concept of intersect and intercaste marriages...a lot of thinkin is going on in their blogs...Well ppl..visit girish.squarespace.com, whoever has a view on that....
One more thing...the drives to besant nagar beach and the sand
are things that are too inviting now....
well....december is that time of the year when my father catches ayyappa fever...I want to attend one of those poojas...and sing a few bhajans...;)

That much from my side...Gharsana has one song from Srinivas which is mindblowing...My first telugu delightful song...but there are a few other telugu songs i mutter occasionally...

Bye then..post more later...

Lost Soul, Busy Body, Restless Mind,Brave Heart....Yeah That's me...

2004-11-29T23:13:00.000+05:30

The World is not enough...In fact I don't care if some angel or Superhuman from above and beyond gives me the world in compressed format and asks me to guard it from other foolish human beings...
A few calls are enough....Give me the last spot in the dossier of India's tomorrows and Day after tomorrows..Ofcourse..There are others outside these hallowed lawns who are twice as potent...So no one get offended by my apparently free wheeling statement...

Let me learn how to unlearn people of their myths....Give me the freedom of choice...Let me and not a few guys 10 years elder to me decide what I should do in life and when i should look at the ceiling and when to lift my head from a stupid box of bits and pixels....
Let me live life doing what I want instead of writing code for some first cousin of satan who wants his computer software to perform a Double somersault and Three twists before it falls crashing into the swimming pool...
What the hell...If you stay up in the night and watch movies atleast there's half a reason to lose sleep but not attending phone calls from hell's gateway...
Well...The reason why I am still afloat in this dirty soup is cus I Hope and I dream...of a resurgence from monotony..Hey...I am not saying MBA Land is paradise or it's a gateway to permanent getaway from work...Far from it...I wanna work the way I want to...Not that the MNC or the plum job after an MBA will be any different from my current one..Not at all...
But I will have the freedom of free will to quit and start my own sweet piece of bull crap...To do something thats beyond the confines of the strangling red tape...and that does not have anything to do with grappling with a stupid device made of plastic and asking it to do what you want cus u can't get other men to obey you...
Well, Life beyond the three letter degree will not be drastically different...But the three letter degree will make a difference to me and help me make a difference to the world in my own small way....It will cease making me feel middle classy, constrained, short sighted, risk averse...
It wont take me to these adjectives' antonyms in weeks...but over a period of time...my evolution will lead to a revolution in the way I look at life and lead life...

Day Dream....Yes...most certainly...But now its up to god and a few guys from other parts of India to stand up and answer my prayers...

Prayers solicited....

2004-11-19T18:34:00.000+05:30

The ears have started to feel hot again...
There are a few butterflies in the stomach...
God I need ur Blessings...
Any human being visiting this place...ur wishes and blessings are welcome...

God is great...
Fingers crossed.....

Life on the Crowded Lane

2004-11-02T17:29:00.000+05:30

I am walking in the middle of a BAAAAD Mount Road Traffic Jam and don't know whether i will cross the road safely...This is a fast moving traffic jam, oddly enough...lots of vehicles hurtling down the road at a frenetic pace...but still the road is blocked as hell....
Whether I will get hit a la Alaipayuthey Shalini or whether i have to go under a national permit lorry to cross the road i do not know...But One thing for sure...I have to cross the road while the traffic is moving...and can't afford to wait for it to stop...

Well...that much as far as a wordy description of my present state is concerned..To KISS (Keep it short and simple)
for once i am having to work in life...;) and could not update this space due to lack of time...a classic case of one dimension affecting another...(wonder how physicists deal with four dimensions and more;))
Looking forward to enter a well shielded gate at the other end of this traffic jam, and hope I won't have to encounter my server's favourite error "403 Access denied"....

Mahesh Murthy Column...Fabulous...

2004-10-20T12:37:00.000+05:30

This one is courtesy My fave writer of all time,..the one and only Mahesh Murthy...
This appeared in the BWorld Column of his "On the Contrary" recently..
Wanted to showcase this piece of inspiration...Thanks Mahesh if you ever get to see this...

********************************************************

Be peer-pressured or be peerless

All our lives, we’re made to feel insecure when compared with peers. It is important
not to give in

Second in class! So X came first again? What's wrong with you - aren't you good enough?" Perhaps you've grown up hearing lines like this through childhood. I did.

Comparisons like this can be the most noxious things to happen. It took me a long while to dig myself out from the mess of others' expectations. But emerge I did - with a clear belief that not just will I steer clear of such benchmarking in my adult life, I will never submit my kid to such psychological warfare.

The horrible habit doesn't end at school. I've seen college students wrenching their guts over some classmate who got the best-paying job at placement time, someone else who got the university gold, some other applicant who got the full overseas tuition waiver. And in all my talks at colleges, I spend more time on this than on any other fundamental of business.

It's hard to tell people that comparisons are a waste of time - so deeply-ingrained in our psyche is this peer-pressure nonsense. But two things clear up the clouds. One is a statement (and I have no hard statistics, only overwhelming anecdotal evidence) that most of these toppers, gold medal winners, - the envied ones - typically end up nowhere, compared to where you are or where you can be.

And even if they've, it's not where you want to be. Sure, your roommate at Powai ended up earning $150K at Goldman Sachs writing research reports on stocks he knows nothing about, living on a lifestyle conveyor belt he can't get off. But is that why you went to IIT to do your B. Tech? Careful what you envy. You might actually get it, and regret it for the rest of your life.

The second is a more basic belief: that all human beings are unique. Nothing too earth-shattering, except when you apply it to your career. Think about it. You're different from every one of your batchmates, aren't you? Your combination of talent, personality, likes and dislikes is what sets you apart from everybody else. You haven't met anybody like you - and you're as individual as your fingerprint, to sound like bad advertising copy. You'll agree that your perfect career is one that will 'fit' your talent and personality to a T. And by the same logic, your perfect career won't suit anyone else - just as anyone else's perfect career won't suit you.

But if all this were true, as you're nodding in agreement, why the heck did you apply and fight for the same jobs and write the same exams? Why are you benchmarking yourself against that colleague from MBA class who is a VP while you're still an assistant vice-president? Why should you bother that X has a better car, that Y was given a bigger company flat, and that Z married into a richer family than you did? Would being in X, Y or Z's place really make your life suddenly more meaningful?

It's a hard one to get your head around. But that doesn't make it any less true: envy is a pointless emotion when it comes to your career. Or even life. At the root of envy is your insecurity about yourself - and your true worth. And insecurity is a great mirage that the system (including us marketing types) have a vested interest in seeing continue.

If you really believed (like many of us do) that people should judge you for your brains and not your looks, you'd put Lakme and L'Oreal out of business. Advertisers, parents, the establishment - all know their job is to make you feel insecure - so you're conned into thinking that only if you use the right shampoo will you find the right guy, or use the right cologne to find the right girl, or top your class to find the right career. Balderdash.

What sets successes apart from also-rans is not the right fairness cream or education or marksheet - but the strength to reject the notion that there's anything wrong with you, or that you need to be like anyone else.

Read up about biographies of people you admire. You won't find wardrobes or accents or family pressure in common, but a common belief that they didn't give a damn about wanting to be like their peers.

One Dimensional Motion- A travelogue

2004-10-18T14:48:00.000+05:30

I am a passenger train chuggin along pointlessly in the middle of a desert towards apparently a place called paradise which people tell me is not too far away. But what is that paradise? Dont know...Well actually I know, It's doing what I wanna do and bein what I wanna be..
But why am I doing things I dont normally do and being all but myself leave alone what I wanna be..to apparently get to where I wanna go? Good question..and cannot have an answer as its a good question...Well, Mirages there are many in any desert journey, and oases there are too, which a few noble souls will descry without much ado...
But the point is I need to get multi dimensional..that is jump,skid and race along like a mountain bike in the same desert....How? Don't know...Hey its very easy for the philosophers and the "Mind Relax Please" authors to rattle off adage after anecdote on enjoying the process and not focusing on the end result...
How do I transform the desert into a playground? Really am as clueless as a baby in a strip club...But one thing to draw solace is though the dimension of space is boundless...the journey is time bound and eventually I will run out of time...Which will signal the end of my quest...Mebbe we should Ask time whether my quest will bear fruit...I dont plan to ask...One thing i like about this journey of mine is its suspense...
But a travel diary can't digress more than this...So while the journey continues...the travelogue stops...

MentalDisintegration from within...

2004-10-14T14:42:00.000+05:30

Courtesy : Wisden Cricinfo and one of its better columnists, Dileep Premchandran. I really endorse his views on why the indian media needs to show more maturity.
***********************************************
Indians have always been generous hosts, but Sourav Ganguly's team could be forgiven for thinking that the red carpet has stretched a few yards too far in the early phase of this series. From the moment they landed on Indian soil, the Australians launched a charm offensive that has had sections of the Indian media drooling. And India's cricketers, except for the continuing obsession with Sachin Tendulkar's tennis elbow, have quickly become supplementary news.

This morning, a national newspaper carried a huge photograph and news item on Adam Gilchrist's visit to one of Chennai's poorer slums, and how he almost ate – given the dietary rules most of these players follow, there was never the slightest chance – dosas made by a woman on the street. There were echoes of Steve Waugh's work with underprivileged children at Udayan, and while cricketers championing such causes is laudable, one only has to see the other side of the media-coverage coin to realise that something isn't right.

After India lost at Bangalore, columnists went to town – most, it must be said, far from the madding crowds and heat of battle – debating whether this team earns its keep. Each Indian defeat is an excuse for these [fifth] columnists to come out and spew facts and figures about X's endorsement deals, or question the rationale behind awarding Y a central contract.

This is a scarcely ingenious tactic borrowed from English tabloids, for whom Wayne Rooney is the next best thing when fit and scoring goals, and a foolish skirt-chaser with no intelligence when out of the spotlight. Contrast that with Australia, where not a soul regurgitated the fine print in Gilchrist's Puma contract or the retainer that Cricket Australia paid Steve Waugh after the team had batted like schoolboys en route to surrendering the Adelaide Test to India last December.

Criticism of Ganguly, usually from disgruntled former greats who missed the endorsement gravy-train, is just as laughable. Geniuses who couldn't buy a win even on home soil are suddenly questioning the attitude and commitment of a man who has won 15 Tests as captain of India, and lost only two – both to Australia – on home turf. India were outplayed at Bangalore, especially over the first two days when Michael Clarke and a rejuvenated Glenn McGrath took centre stage, but competed well thereafter - and even Gilchrist admitted that they had been on the receiving end of the many umpiring gaffes.

There is no disgrace in defeat, or in being outplayed by a superior side, especially if you toil as hard as Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan and Rahul Dravid did in the latter stages of the match. Darren Lehmann had a dreadful game with the bat for Australia, but how many hatchet jobs did you see in the Australian newspapers?

Instead, what we see are stories trumpeting Lehmann's selfless remarks about Clarke. While there's no doubt that Lehmann's attitude to the game has changed drastically in the aftermath of David Hookes's tragic death, there's no need to play up what was probably an off-the-cuff remark in the first place. It becomes worse when some take the quote and run with it, implying that Indian players are selfish and deliver only when their place in the side is at stake.

It doesn't help that media coverage is hopelessly skewed. Two Australian journalists attended Ganguly's press conference this afternoon, while there will be over a hundred Indians documenting ever little word that Gilchrist utters later this afternoon. Each mainstream Indian newspaper devotes a column, or two, to an Australian view, and some of it is nothing but thinly veiled putting-down of Ganguly and his team. Ian Healy suggested that India's batsmen had let down their slow bowlers in Bangalore, as if it was a deliberate act.

With the exception of publications like Inside Cricket and Inside Sport, the Australian media can't even be bothered with an Indian perspective. You don't see Sunil Gavaskar expounding on an Australian batsman's dodgy technique against Harbhajan, or on the absurdly defensive fields that Shane Warne bowled to for much of India's second innings. Instead, you will read tomorrow how Australia's finest will step on to the Chepauk turf to honour Keith Miller's memory, just as they had made homage to Sir Donald Bradman three years ago by thumping India at the Wankhede Stadium.

Australia will come hard at India in this game, black armbands and all. And they won't resort to much mental disintegration – Steve Waugh's watchword has been largely ignored by the current outfit – either, at least not overtly. Not that they need to, when sections of the Indian media are sledging their own team far more than a McGrath or Warne ever did.

Crazy Bugger

2004-10-08T18:00:00.000+05:30

Well...That is me...

When a man knows that India is gonna lose a test match fair and square....a soul still nurtures hope of the miraculous...That india will pull off another great escape...Pipe dream for most..But I happen to be a mad cricket fan...not a rare species in this country...And am going ahead with my plan to visit the Chinnasamy stadium in Blore from my current place of livelihood (Hate to use this term though) Hyderabad...
Foolish to many but my alter ego just wont allow me to miss an India Aus series that happens in the country of my existence...A bit of braggin here....I watched 3 days of the 1998 test and all five days of the 2001 test agnst the aussies in my beloved MAC ...

Of course there are a few ppl in blore with whom i need to spend time with...Not least of all my mom....
so its ok..so here i am on my way to bangalore...So Makki and all u ppl who see this blog from Blore...make some time for this fool...
I will be there tomorrow...

Browne , Bravo, Bradshaw, Bliss !!!

2004-09-27T10:51:00.000+05:30

Obscurity was denied its place under the sun...No longer....
Epics are being scripted at the speed of Hardy Boys Novels...
First the Greek Giant killers at Euro 04...Now the "Win" or "Die" guys from the Windies....well the spirit of Sport is living its Glory years...
The calypso kings from those pretty beaches....who all these years shed reputation...while the cricket fans and connoisseurs alike shed tears....have finally, to state the cliche, risen from the ashes...
Hey but this Windies team is a shadow of their illustrious predecessors...They didn't intimidate and sizzle...They dont send shivers through the opponents' spine...
They were pitied more than anything else...They won by grit and not genius..by application not artistry...
They have shown that Spirit moves mountains and reaffirmed my faith in my favourite adage "Nothing is more powerful than the human mind"...
Picture this..Bravo,Bradshaw,Browne....these were the unlikeliest heroes ever thrown in cricket history...
What does this show? Well...Cricket and infact all activities in this planet are team effort...and synergy provides the most obvious defiance to the law of conservation of energy....
The triumph of the calypso kings was a message to all the lesser gifted, hardworking middle class Madhavans to continue the fight against odds...
It was a much deserved high for its thus far hapless captain Lara whose individual heroics were the only source of joy for the carribean cricket fans...Now the Legends of the past can walk with their heads held high...The world heaves a sigh of relief for them....

World around...no team has endeared themselves to the fans more than these gentle giants..That is the most heartening part of this victory....
Poetic Justice ? Most definitely...

Defy Deification...Generate Synergy... Thats the Mantra...