Showing posts with label Misc. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Misc. Show all posts

Thursday, January 08, 2009

Naan Kadavul - Music Review

On hearing the songs of Naan Kadavul for the first time, I sensed the underlying theme in the songs is one of either theism or empathy with the blind and the weak. Let me go one by one:

Om Siva Om Om Siva Om Ruthira
Vijay Prakash

The tone of the song is as given in the title is one of Rudram. This tone is initially set by the blowing of conches and the sounds of Udukkai at the start, which is then brought down by the Om Chants in praise of the Rudra Shiva; the vocal then continues the praise of the Lord. A noticeable fact about the song is that it is entirely composed in Sanskrit (need to confirm this, but lyrics is nowhere in Tamil). When I was thinking the song will keep on increasing its tempo, it slows down to include another 30-40 seconds of slokas. In spite or may be because of this break in the tempo, the song, post the slokas, builds up the tempo quickly in tune with the tone of the song. When the first utterance of 'Aham Brahmaasmi' occurs, the tempo reaches its crescendo and it does make one remember the gems of Thiruvaasagam. I adore this song for the number of Omkaras and the Rudram in it .


Kannil Paarvai pona piragum
Shreya Goshal

After the ferocity in tone of the earlier song, this one is exactly opposite. With a mood of pathos, a nice melodious tune, yearning voice of Shreya Goshal and the simple, powerful lyrics will make one empathize with the plight of blind orphans. The melody in the song is not allowed to flow owing to the strong thumping background beats which probably are conveying the pathos tone of the song. There is one small note in the song which I guess is a direct copy-paste from one of Thiruvaasagam's songs. At some points in the song, I thought Shreya's voice was too high pitched and the words at those moments were not legible as they were in the other segments - which get exposed more so because Ilayaraja sings the same song in his own voice later in the album.


Maatha Un Kovilil Mani Deebam
Madhumitha

Probably the shortest song I have heard - this one runs only for 42 seconds. With hardly a couple of lines of lyrics, the song I must say is really well sung with the tone being slightly more upbeat compared to the earlier song. This song reminds me of the 'good' (good as in good, with absolutely no pun) songs sung in the electric trains of Chennai by blind people, this I say with utmost respect to every one involved in the song and to the blind singers. I say so mainly because of the clarity with which every word of the song is uttered by the playback singer.


Amma Un Pillai Naan
Sadhana Sargam

The tone of the song is one of reverence and self-pity backed up by excellent lyrics. Though the content of the song is such, the tune is more merrier than the earlier songs and hence the mood is light while the lyrics are not so. I wonder what the reason of this mismatch of mood and words could be. The main spoilsport of the song, though, is the playback singer. Sadhana's high pitched voice towards the end of one stanza is appreciable, but the pitch does not come down for the start of the next stanza and the lyrics are not legible in multiple places.


Oru Kaatril Alaiyum Siragu
Ilayaraja

No one can bring life to a song with his/her voice like the maestro. This one is with the same tune of the earlier song "Kannil Paarvai pona piragum", with 90% similar lyrics but this one is much better than the earlier one; every single word of the lyrics is legible unlike the one sung by Shreya Goshal. I somehow get to feel this one is kind of a eulogy to the character singing the earlier song.


Pitchaipaathiram Yenthi Vanthaen
Madhu Balakrishna

This is a purely devotional song praising the almighty and praying for complete surrender. The lyrics of this song are simple and conveying the meaning exquisitely. I must admit I mistook the singer, Madhu Balakrishna, to be someone who is related to the great Balamuralikrishna. It is not the sweetest voice around, but definitely reminds me of another great KJ Yesudoss. To me, this song is the best of the lot.


As a regular listener of Ilayaraja's Thiruvaasagam, I could not resist comparing the present one with His magnum opus and I was able to observe some common notes between the two. This could have been so just because of the similarity in the tone of the songs. Overall, I would say the music album of Naan Kadavul is definitely a must-have, must-listen one. I think the songs with female singers could have been better sung. Ilayaraja, I guess, is still unable to find a replacement for S Janaki. The album has only increased my expectations for the movie, Naan Kadavul.


Snippets of Naan Kadavul lyrics I liked:

Vidhiyenum yezhuthellaam vizhi neeril azhiyumo?

Pengalai silaiyile thozhuginra ulagame, yaen sol?

Kanaavil kooda inbam, kaanaathathu enna jenmam..

Oliyai pole oru thunai, vanthu sendra thunbam yaarkkum undo?

Engengum inbam irunthum, un pangu ponathengey?

Porulukku alainthidum porulattra vaazhkaiyum thurathudhey

Pitchaipaathiram Yenthi Vanthaen
Pindam enum elumbodu sathai narambuthiramum adangiya udambenum
Pitchaipaathiram Yenthi Vanthaen

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Ghajini - A Review

Here's a review on Ghajini, please proceed, none of the plot will be revealed, whatsoever.

With Aamir Khan in the lead and the celebrated eight packs and the build-up promos with Khan v/s Khan duels, this Ghajini had accrued considerable amount of hype. The hype reaching its peak with the producer of the Tamil version suing the producer of the Hindi version for copyright violation. Unlike many other movies with such inflated hype, I must admit this movie fails to disappoint.

The present Ghajini till its intermission has replicated the Tamil version in its truest form and sense; in whatever little places the movie has differed from its original it has been for the better. Most of the memorable scenes from the original are retained, thankfully, without an iota of attempt to modify. Full marks to the makers for that. This episode of the movie till the intermission is easily the liveliest stretch. I had opined in my earlier review that I would not write negative comments about Asin; but this time around I am unable to find a single flaw in her performance. I liked her and her role in this movie so much it can be an antidote for her role in Dasavatharam. My non-tamil friends with whom I watched this movie gave some comments on Asin of which I am repeating two. One, after her introductory song, "She is a chick looking girl"; Two, after her first scene with Aamir Khan, "She is expressive, the chick can act". All through, if there was one clap-winner in the movie, it was Asin. Deservedly so.

Everyone, including the director A R Murugadoss, said the climax of the Tamil Ghajini actually a no-climax and one which spoiled the entire movie. This time around the second half and the climax of the movie has been changed drastically to eliminate the feeling of bungling which happened earlier. I must say the director has succeeded in making the audience not feeling let down after an impressive first half. Most movies would have ended after the 'climax fight'; here the movie carries on to show further things which to me was the icing on the cake and to my friends it appeared like a drag. How much of these praises should go to Aamir Khan and how much to A R Murugadoss are left for arguments.

There is no Ghajini without Aamir Khan. Aamir would have been on screen for at least 95% of the movie and he has carried it so well that only superstars can do. Macho body, impressive acting, charming face, style - a treat to watch. If Tamil cinema has Kamal Hasan, Hindi has Aamir Khan. He has put in efforts and the results are there on the screen. It surely is one of his very different and noteworthy performances, but I still prefer Aamir Khan in a Lagaan or a Dil Chahta Hai over Ghajini. But one thing, just like Kamal Hasan, I can see Aamir Khan ageing - a non-missable fact from the close-up shots of the stylish CEO Sanjay Singhania.

With so much positives over the original version, I feel there is one area where the Tamil Ghajini scores over its Hindi counterpart: songs. I feel the Tamil songs (and tunes) composed by Harris Jeyaraj were much superior to the ones in the latest release. This is not to say the songs of Hindi Ghajini are bad, but they are comparatively.

Does this movie have only positives? Obviously not, there were lots of gaps in logic which only an Indian mind can digest. I am not going to spoil the fun by pointing out each of those. But errrr, some of those: an empty Mumbai-Goa second class compartment; 3 BMWs escorting the BMW in which a travels, always; a villain who kills multiple dons on surmise and who does not kill the actual threat but 'cleans up' his memories. This list is definitely indicative. Though needed for the story, the violence in the movie is on the higher side and is literally gory. I wonder why Jiah khan got the role which she played in the movie, her apathetic acting was showcased in the presence of Aamir and Asin. Reyaas Khan as Inspector was funny, a better choice could have been made there as well.

Whenever a movie is a re-make of another, comparison with the original is inevitable and this Hindi Ghajini scores over the Tamil version in most departments: Aamir better than Surya, Asin (Hindi) better than Asin (Tamil), climax (Hindi) much better than Climax (Tamil). There should not be any comparison of this movie with 'Memento' (which according to me is the best screenplay in a movie) as the story line is thoroughly different, the common thread is just the ...errr....ya..'short term memory loss'.

Overall, this is a good movie - a worthy watch in a theatre inspite of its logical gaps. Treat this as a superhero movie interspersed with cherishable episodes of romance, music and 'memories'.

Update: Article by the hero of the tamil version - Surya

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Career Destruction

I do not remember knowing any better career decimating crime than this: Anti-kidnapping consultant kidnapped in Mexico. I wonder what the kidnapped guy does once he is freed; I suggest him to call himself a victim of credit crunch – no one questions and if he is big (uff..if he is more than 6 feet tall), probably, some Governments may even give him nice compensation package.

Elsewhere, a president says, “I do not know what the man told, but I could see his sole (read: soul?)”. I think lots of things could have been different had he seen people's soul a lot earlier.

Comedy of accents

Tamil news channels often come up immense creativity which will make anyone laugh (like this one); the latest one has got to do with Monty Panesar being called Monty Pannee Sir

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Terrrorism - An Opinion

There have been extensive coverage both in MSM and blogs on the recent terror attacks in Mumbai. It pains to realize how each one of us is exposed to such acts of barbarism and I strongly feel that we need to get out from the "it won't happen to me" syndrome and at least start thinking on ways out of this menace. I am no expert in the domain, so apologies if my opinions are too naive.

Mission: We need to put across a strong message to one and all who are in positions of responsibility (or the politicians) - "Politicize Terror, Lose my Vote"; for the ones who have some brains, it can be interpreted as "Politicize Terror, Lose my Tax". I am not suggesting that the politicians have had a role in the recent attacks, I am only reinforcing that if politicizing terror is not stopped, as Kapil Sibal says here, we are only aiding the terrorists and their agenda. I read elsewhere on the Internet that terrorism cannot be stopped (I wonder how USA has been able to avert any major terrorist attack after 2001) and the victim nation can only react 'strongly' to such acts. The sad state of affairs is India is neither able to prevent such acts nor able to react. If nothing changes in a country after serial bomb blasts in 4 major cities, after scores of lives have been lost, after giving reservations for terror (Hindu terror v/s Islam terror), then the problem is far more systemic than the ineptness, inactivity, fashion-consciousness of the Central Home Minister, or loose tongue of a Deputy Chief Minister. So, dear politicians, please develop a system which aids in preventing future acts of terror and definitely one which aids in speedy, effective reactions to future acts of terror.

As a passing thought, I believe, the day (utopian though) every one turns atheistic/agnostic and unpatriotic, terrorism will die.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Quote!

From a forwarded mail:

Easy to think about improving
Difficult to stop thinking and doing it

Friday, November 07, 2008

Poraattam - F6

Here is a song that was composed for a contest in Vijay TV some time last year. The composition was from a band called "F6" - a group consisting of alumni from BITS, Pilani and who, I was told, were working in different locations and had assembled to compete in that TV contest. This song was sung in the semi-final round of that contest - the contest requiring the contestants to compose their own songs. This song won the semi-finals for all the good reasons. The song was so good that in spite of the fact that this troupe did not compete in the finals (reason: unknown to me), AR Rahman who came as judge in the final round was all praise for this band and the song and presented a special prize to them.

I am not an expert in music, notes and compositions, but a friend of mine who is one such and an exponent of carnatic vocal music commented that this song is "technically" perfect and deserves much more recognition and fanfare than what it currently enjoys.

Here is
Sodhanaigal Sornthu Othum Sogam Yaenada
indru saadhnaigal sernthu koodum vaazhum Maanida.....

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Lesson for Indian Politicians

I have no opinion on the result of the U.S. Election, whether it was the first time an African-American has won American election or it could have been the first time a woman could have become president/vice president of the USA.

But what I admired most about this election is this: John McCain congratulating Barack Obama as soon as he would have realized victory is not coming his way. The graciousness that a losing candidate had in appreciating the victor shows how mature the country is, the democracy there is vis-a-vis the bickerings we have here in India: pre-election, during election, post elections till it is time for the next election. I suppose this is not the first time a losing candidate, be it the race for presidency or the race for presidential nomination, has graciously accepted defeat in the history of America, but it is the one that I admired most about the whole process.

Btw, I feel, more than change it is change management that is more important. (Hey!! some MBA BS jargon!)

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Taxi Taxi

I was told a song from the movie "Sakkarakatti" is really good and it has become quite popular in spite of being a contemporary to the "naakku mukku" phenomenon. The first time I heard the song, it was not appealing and did not meet the hype with which it was told to me. But I must accept after listening to the song for a couple of days that this song is just too peppy, joyous and kind of makes me an air-drummer. There are two things that I specially liked: one the constant beat in the background and the lively lyrics. I am pasting the lyrics of the song taken from this site. Most importantly, there is one french (I guess) stanza coming in the lyrics; before having a look at the actual lyrics, I could not decipher it - thanks to my absolute voidness in oral french - I took it for some kind of a Rajnish's French Connection in United Kingdom.

Other tamil songs I am recently listening to (again and again):
- Vaaranam Aayiram
- Dosth bada dosth (Saroja)
- Kangal Irandal Un Kangal Irandal (Subramaniapuram): I must say I love the female singer in this song
- Oru Naalaikkul ethanai kanavu (Yaaradi Nee Mohini)
- Adada Adada ennai etho (Santhosh Subramaniam)
- Taxi Taxi (Sakkarakatti)


Listen to Sakkarakatti - tamil Audio Songs at MusicMazaa.com


Taxi-Taxi Lyrics:
Nan Nanan na na nana na ana…na

Nanba nee oru ilavasa taxi (2)

Once upon a time when we were riding real easy
Only we used our new Maruthi
Look up on the sides when a citi girl pass by
bale bale you say bye bye bye

mm say bale bale
mm say ole ole
mm say ole ole
shaawa

mm say bale bale
mm say ole ole
mm say ole ole
shaawaaaaaa…

Rasi Rasi…nanban kidaithal ellam OC
Taxi Taxi..nanba nee oru ilavasa taxi….(2)

Nee nee nee nee illayael naan naan naan engu povathu
Thoal saaya Thoal illayael en vaazhkai ennavathu…

Rasi..Rasi…nanban kidaithal ellam OC
Taxi Taxi..nanba nee oru ilavasa taxi…

oola oola…nanban kidaithal elllam OC..
oola oola…yoasi yoasi…yoasi yoasi…

We’ve gonna a smile coz we have a journey
dinner with a lady in a red saree
shout out loud, say you’re so sweet

We’ve gonna a smile coz we have a journey
dinner with a lady in a red saree

oola oola

En thavarai nee maraithai
Enakai archanai vaanginaai
Un Thoalgal yaeniyai poal
Yaeri midithaen…thaanginaai

Ezhum poathu kai thanthu
Azhum poathu kadan thanthu
Ilaipaara madi thanthu
Enakena vaazhvathu nee thaane

Rasi..Rasi…nanban kidaithal ellam OC
Taxi Taxi..nanba nee oru ilavasa taxi…

Il faut que je me dépêche parce qu’on m’attend à Chennai
Il faut que j’aille prendre le Taxi, prendre le Taxi à Paris

na na ana…na
nai nainya nainya nainya na….

Thillana Thillana Thimiru pudicha thillanaa…
Anbaa naan Anbaa naan adangamaataen hero naan
Kalla thanam theriyaadhu…
Kaadhaliye kidaiyaathu…

nan nanan na na nana na ana..na na na na

Kanjathanam theriyaathu
Kanjaave kidayaathu…
Nalla pazham kidayaathu
Gnana pazham kidayaathu
En uyir nanban nee thaane

Rasi..Rasi…nanban kidaithal ellam OC
Taxi Taxi..nanba nee oru ilavasa taxi…

neeya neeya neeya neeya illayael
na na na na na na engu poavathu
Thoal saaya Thoal illayael en vaazhkai
ennavathu…ennavathu…ennavathu…

nan naana naana na na nana ….

Taxi Taxi..Awesome taxi…
Taxi Taxi…Raasi Raasi…”rap” ae jaasthi…
Taxi Taxi…uh hey…uh hey..ah..hah…hah..
Taxi Taxi…Make a wave… Make a sound…
Taxi Taxi…kumbakumengum city city
Thinam thinam pengal try and catch me
Rude boys naangal king of the streets
Riding together every body follow me…

Look over the side when ya see u when u pass by
Friend thavira friends thavira stay with me all at the time
Rolling through the streets.. they must they must ask why?
We be so happy and we know that we are nice guys

mm say bale bale
mm say ole ole
mm say ole ole
shaawa

mm say bale bale
mm say ole ole
mm say ole ole
shaawaaaaaa..

Friday, October 31, 2008

Vaaranam Aayiram - Music

It has been a while since I liked an entire album such as this. More than the melody and the music, the songs sound cute.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Most Awaited Movie of 2008



Update from Kollywood Today

Ramarajan is not a new person. He ruled Kollywood in the 80s. He was a great threat even to the super star. His movies like Enga Ooru Pattukaran and Karakattakaran took him to great heights. But all of a sudden he went into exile due to his domestic problems. Ramarajan will make his comeback with the movie Medhai to be directed by debutant T G Saravanan. He plays a head master in a village school. He comes across a group of baddies and ends their atrocities in the village.

Vadivelu, Charlie, Pithamaghan Mahadevan form part of the cast. A debutante will play the heroine. Dhina is scoring the music. Shooting for the movie would commence shortly.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Politiquote 3

Heard on Jaya TV News:
Minority DMK Government supported Union Government's finance minister Chidambaram is misleading the country on.....
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the collapse of US banks, said D Raja of CPI.

Heights of joblessness!!! 

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

How things turn out!

I have read in books, seen in mundane Tamil movies the way in which events turn up making you think you live a life which is akin to pseudo-fiction. You yearn for your desires, dreams and destiny (3D!); sometimes with bullish optimism, sometimes with a thrust filled with desperation and some other times fearfully. But you yearn. Some people do not stop at yearning, they start to work their way towards their 3Ds; at least they start. They try. Some times, they might also fail, the probability of which is immaterial as they ‘do try’. There is a famous saying in Tamil which goes “Muyarchi udaiyaar igazhchi adaiyaar”, meaning “those who keep trying, don’t fail”. But there are certain things in life which you better don’t keep on trying and perhaps move on to the next. The idea also resonates with personal life.

It is the worst when you have accepted the defeat, get accustomed to things other than your original 3Ds, begin to design your new 3Ds in place and suddenly things turn out so weirdly that your very own defeats are re-surfacing on their own, asking you to ‘assume’ that you have won and then continue to enquire about how you feel about the success; the monkey the human mind is, you doubt whether the defeat earlier was a prank; but gradually it is confirmed that it was not a prank and they were indeed defeats and now you just have to assume and answer and most importantly keep quiet!

Sunday, August 24, 2008

CFA Journey -2

After 90 days of conducting the exam, the CFA institute has come up with the result and I have cleared CFA Level 2. Hurray!!!!

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Dasavatharam Review

Dasavatharam, after seeing the movie my first reaction was : "racy". The screenplay of the movie kept the audience always involved.  I see the movie in two parts: one, the 12th century portion spanning for about 15 minutes and the second - the actual movie, lasting for the remaining minutes. There was never a scene in the second part of the movie which I found was redundant. Even the two songs in this part were carefully placed and properly intertwined with the storyline.  Regarding the first part, I fail to see its link with the remaining portion of the movie. It looks as if Kamal Hassan, the story writer, wanted the audience to know that there existed violent enmity between Saivites and Vaishnavites before the arrival of the foreign rulers just as the animosity existing between religions in the modern days. The only trace of a link of the first part with the second I could find was that the idol to which Kamal Hassan was tied and thrown into the sea in the 12th century would reappear in the final scene with actually no real significance - Kamal and Asin would stand beside it and propose!

As it has been said in Sify, of the 10 roles, some of them did not have substantial part in the movie.  I may sound contradictory here, I feel the movie had no redundant scenes but the 10 roles of Kamal were not actually justified. Some of them were roles that are typically done by character artistes. But Kamal's acting, makeup, dialogue delivery in each of these roles were impeccable, especially, the dialogue delivery of Bhuvaragan in his introductory scene.

There are some of the roles which stays in my mind even after a good night's sleep: The faces of American President Bush, the ex-CIA turned terrorist, Dalit activist Bhuvaragan.

I felt the songs were a let down prior to the movie, but now I feel it is not all that bad as there are only three songs and nicely compensated by the intertwined story in almost all of them.

The climax scene with Tsunami was a visual treat.  I liked the way the screenplay linked the story to a real-life incident.  It did make the entire story appear (to an extent) like a real one, that could have really happened. I was reminded of Irving Wallace's Seventh secret.

I expected the movie to be more on the lines of Hey Ram (which to me is the best Indian film I have seen) but it turned out to be a fast action movie where the Ulaganayagan did not disappoint his fans or any movie-goer.  All in all, I was happy at the end of the movie with a feeling of well-spent 200 rupees and (more or less) my expectations satisfied.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

CFA Journey

The sole purposeful deed I was involved in the last two months was the preparation for CFA Level 2 test.  Though, at times, I felt that preparing for the test was a PIA when I had to give up some sessions of DoTA or How I met your mother! Now the CFA preparation has come to an end, reaching its pinnacle for me in Singapore.

Thanks to the legal tussle among AICTE-ICFAI and CFA Institute USA, Indian students were put under confusion on where they can take up the test.  During the registration period, the CFA institute allowed Indian students to take the test outside the country and all those students who were ready to travel abroad registered in a country of their choice. In the last few years, when the test was happening inside India, the number of Indian students, in all the three levels put together, would be about 8000 . Because of the confusion this year, only about 4000 Indian students registered for the tests.  On an average, the expenditure would be close to Rs.20000 including travel, visa and boarding expenses, which translates to Rs.8 Crores of unnecessary expense and even more crores of rupees of opportunity costs (for the remaining 4000 who did not take) for the Indian test takers because of a legal battle that remains unsolved for more than a year.

Having gone to Singapore to take the test, I cannot stop admiring the professionalism with which the test was conducted. To start, the hall in which the exam happened had close to 4800 seats - the biggest examination hall in which I was a part. It was ensured that all the tables were firmly footed with sandpapers supporting the legs of tables which were shorter than the other legs by millimetres. I have been in exam halls, which were much smaller but with lots of tables dancing because of uneven base.  It was the first time in my life, I encountered toilet proctors whose responsibility was to ensure that no test-taker misuses the toilet facility! There were section proctors who took care of close to 30 students, and lead proctors and exit proctors and so on and so forth.  Even the outside of the hall (which would have spanned close to 100 metres) were patrolled to ensure there is no noise and no disturbance from outside.  To a person like me, I would say the set up was Pukka.

As for my performance is concerned, the morning session was quite easy. I finished with about half an hour to spare.  The afternoon session also I found was a cake-walk, completing the test with close to 35 minutes to spare.  After a light perusal of the threads in Analyst Forum I understood the majority found the afternoon session to be more difficult than the morning one. Overall, the posters there found the tests to be challenging and definitely not a cake-walk.  This should mean that either I nailed the tests comprehensively or I was fooled handsomely by the paper-setters' guile. I hope it was the former.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Ponderings - revisited

In The Fountainhead, the protagonist Howard Roark says, “the last thing I expect for my work is appreciation”. Why can’t we be like that? This “we” surely includes yours truly. Though many of us bark as though we are Roarks, most of us are not. I have not seen a single Roark in my life. After all, The Fountainhead is a work of fiction.

Why do we expect others to evaluate us? Why do we want our works to be recognized by others? Why do we want others to hold us in high esteem? Why we, sometimes, become charlatans? Why do we do things just to impress others, while we ourselves do not like to do them? Why are we not ready to accept others’ superiority over us in some fields? Why we try to ape the ones we consider superior to us? Why many of us do not know what we want out of life?

Questions abound. Answers to each of these questions are available. Some of them told by the Krishnas, some by the Buddhas, some by the Ayn Rands, some in religious scriptures and some even in movies. But the whole issue is why are we not having a lucid understanding of these questions though we have a lot of answers.

Of course, man is a social animal. So he should give due diligence to gregarious commitments. But is it advisable to let those affect or determine his individual character? Yes, societal onus on an individual makes him not to indulge in unlawful/unethical/unhealthy practices “when others are around”. But if such falsity prevails within our self, what benefit we derive from the society’s applause.

Of the above questions, I consider the last one to be the most basic and most important which is being ignored high time by us. Not many of us can visualize our lives ten years down the line – of how we want our lives to be, what(or who) would make us happy. If we know what we want out of life, we can act towards that target – take tiny little steps in that journey, every dawn we move closer to that target...I understand, I am sounding Utopian.

I recently came across an article in wikipedia which discussed about the Seven Cardinal Sins. Though a bit far-fetched, I relate the questions raised above to these seven sins. The seven sins are Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Jealousy, Anger and Pride. Please do not ask me, how we could relate each one of these sins to the questions raised. After all, I do not commit any of these seven sins (Sin number 7: Pride)

Monday, May 26, 2008

Flynn loses Teeth!

Poor Daniel Flynn got two of his teeth removed, thanks to a "well-directed" bouncer from James Andersen. Incidentally, this is Flynn's second test in his very first tour for the black caps. In the earlier match, his first, his contribution with the bat was well appreciated by Vettori.

One tooth came off on impact and the other was removed later! Uff...Not a "gentle"-man's game....



Courtesy: Youtube

Friday, May 23, 2008

Can Sachin help Dhoni?

With all the help from the rain-gods, Chennai are one step closer to the semifinal spot. The rains went in their favour in the match against Kolkata and Kolkata suffered again against Delhi where Delhi also had to share the pain.

With Delhi at 13 and Chennai at 14 points and Delhi having 1 match and Chennai having 2 matches, the probability should favour Chennai. With one game against Rajasthan, I do not fancy Chennai to win. The other match is against Deccan Chargers which no one can predict. If one of Gilly, Afridi fires the match is gone. All these can be put to rest if Mumbai can defeat Delhi. If that happens, Delhi would be stuck at 13 and Chennai can qualify irrespective of what happens in its own matches.

So my dream line-up for the IPL semifinals might not happen. In all likelihood it is going to be Rajasthan, Punjab, Mumbai and Chennai.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Arasangam

Was surprised to read some reviews on "Arasangam" which claim the movie is much better than expected.

Of course, with Gapdan in the lead, my expectation was actually zero, err....negative. Even the reviewers might have had such low expectations.

Is it time to watch a captain's movie on the big screen?