Saturday, December 16, 2006

A dirty poem

" There once was a lesbian from Cancun
Who took a young man up to her room
where they argued all night as to
who had the right to do what and how much to whom"

Credits: Life of David Gale

Life of David Gale

I watched the movie " The Life of David Gale" starring Kevin Spacey and Kate Winslet last week. I thought the movie was very entertaining with good suspense and kept me guessing until the end. I liked this quote by Kevin Spacey about Lacans philosophy

" Lacan’s point is that fantasies have to be unrealistic because the moment, the second – that you get what you seek, you don’t you cant want it any more.In order to continue to exist, desire must have its objects perpetually absent. Its not the “it” that you want, It’s the fantasy of “it” So desire supports crazy fantasie.

This is what pascal means when he says that we are only truly happy when daydreaming about future happiness or why we say the hunt is sweeter than the kill.

Or be careful what you wish for, not because you will get it but because, you are doomed to not to want it once you do. So the lesson of lacan is living by your wants will never make you happy. What it means to be fully human is to strive to live by ideas and ideals and not to measure your life by what you have attained in terms of your desires, but those small moments of integrity, compassion, rationality, even self-sacrifice. Because in the end, the only way we can measure the significance of our own lives is by valuing the lives of others. "

Monday, December 11, 2006

Meet Robert Fisk this week

The Middle East Children's Alliance presents
ROBERT FISK

Iraq and Lebanon: Pointing the Finger of Guilt

Thursday, December 14, 2006, 7pm
First Presbyterian Church, 2619 Broadway in Oakland
Tickets: $20, no one turned away for lack of funds

Journalist and author Robert Fisk has lived in and written about the Middle East for more than thirty years. He is the Middle East Correspondent for The Independent of London and the winner of numerous journalism and human rights awards, including the 2006 Lifetime Achievement Prize from the Lannan Foundation.

SPECIAL RECEPTION with Robert Fisk
Thursday, December 14, 2006, 9pm
Humanist Hall, 390 27th Street in Oakland (across from the lecture)
$50, includes priority seating at lecture

Buy tickets online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/8705, call 1-800-838-3006 or send a check to MECA, 901 Parker Street, Berkeley, CA 94710

This event will be wheelchair accessible and ASL interpreted.

Co-sponsored by the Armenian National Committee

For info: 510-548-0542 or events@mecaforpeace.org

Friday, December 08, 2006

God in the words of an athiest

Richard Dawkins, is a celebrated biologist and is well know for his war against fundamentalism in religions. Here is a small video of him describing God in the old testament.

Warning : The following might be offensive for some. So read at your own risk


Richard Dawkins: The God of the old testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction. Jealous and proud of it, apathy, unjust, unforgiving, control freak, a vindictive blood thirsty ethnic cleanser, a masogenistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, philicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasachistic, capriciously melovalent bully.

Here is the video

Sunday, December 03, 2006

The pleasure of finding things out

This video is an excellent 40 min interview with Nobel laurete and physicist Richard Feynman. I liked his answer to the question whether he considered his work worthy enough to win a nobel prize. Here is the text transcript of his answer.

Richard Feynman:

I don’t know . I don’t know anything about the nobel prize and whats worth what. If the people in the Swedish academy decide that x y or z wins a nobel prize, then so be it

I don’t have anything to do with the Nobel prize, It’s a pain in the neck. I don’t like honours. I am appreciated for the work I did and the people who appreciated and I noted other physicists who used my work, I don’t need anything else. I don’t think there is any sense to anything else. I don’t see that it makes a point that some one in the Swedish academy decides that this work is noble enough to receive a prize. I already got the prize, the prize is the pleasure of finding the thing out. The kick in a discovery. The observation of other people use it. Those are the real things. The honors are unreal to me. I don’t believe in honors. That bothers me . Honors bothers me. Honors are epaulets, honors are uniforms, My Pop brought me up this way. I cant stand it. It hurts me.

When I was in High school, one of the first honors I got was to be a member of the arista, which is a group of kids, who got good grades. And everybody wanted to be a member of the Arista. When I got into the arista I discovered is that what they did in their meetings was to sit around to discuss who else was worthy to join the wonderful group we are. This kind of thing bothers me psychologically for one or another reason, I don’t understand myself. Honors from that date to now always bothered me.


Here is the video

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Why socialism fails ?

4 Ways to spend money. These are the most insightful thougts on I have ever heard on spending money. Clearly explains why socialism has been a failure in the history of man kind. Milton Friedman is a genius.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Globalization of Inequality

P. Sainath, an award winning photo journalist spoke on the issue of globalization of inequality last year. His speech gives insights into some facts about the so called "Tiger economy" of India, that will never make to main stream media. The best part of his speech was the ending, when he speaks of the analogy between us and the guests of Nero's grand party. Nero, a roman emperor, in an attemptto avert the public's attention from the fire that burnt down the roman capital, decided to host the grandest party in the history of Roman Empire. He used wretched prisoners as fuel to generate light during the party. Sainath says, we are like Nero's guests who could not stand up against such an inhuman act, when we ignore hundereds of farmers suicides in India with an idle yawn. The speech has many interesting facts about how the tsunami affected the economy of the countries that it struck. It is definetely worth watching. Here is the video

Monday, October 30, 2006

Grace Personified

I watched Michael J Fox's intervew on CBS in response to Rush Limbaugh mocking him on his talk show. I was amazed at the grace with which he responded to the inhuman criticism by Rush
Limbaugh. He never resorted to mudslinging or any kind of inflammatory language. I was impressed with the amazing clarity of his thought and he did not seem to be annoyed at all. He deserves a great applause for the way he handled the controversy. His civilized attitude is what that is so badly needed in this world.

Here is the video

My attempt at book reading

I am a poor reader and there are hardly a few books, I can claim to have read completely. Most of the books did not make it past the first 25 pages. My attempts to read non technical books started about a couple of years ago . I started with some popular fiction titles. Most of the attempts failed to last longer than 15 min. After buying about 10 books and having failed to read any of them completely, I figured fiction was not something I loved to read. I felt I had a liking for philosophy and tried to my hand at a few books on philosophy. The same disturbing pattern of loosing interest within 15 pages into the book continued. Still, what ever little I understood from the writings of Emerson and Betrand Russell, opened up a new way of perceving my life.

My first claim to reading a book completely came shortly afterwards when I read and reread the "The conquest of happiness " by Bertrand Russell. The book definitely enabled me be more happier than I was, prior to reading the book. My thirst for understanding this human emotion was not satisfied yet. Then I had the fortune of watching Prof Tal's course on Positive Psychology. I think this was one of the best moments in my academic development. This course mentioned Nathaniel Branden and his literature, quite a few times. This prompted me to read Brandens " Psychology of self esteem". I think this book can be the best gift you can give to anyone you care about. Branden's understanding and presentation of the concept of self esteem and the way it is interlinked to our personality demystified a number of false notions and beliefs I carried all my life. I believe, a majority of humanity carry these false beliefs and sabotaging practises and this book is an excellent tool to discover and overcome them.

Since I read this book, I am trying to implement 2 practises, which according to Branden is essential to improve out self esteem.

1) Be Self assertive: For the first time in my life, I am trying to be consciously aware of my desires and feelings. I am trying to spend most of time, being myself instead of trying to be someonelse . I dont feel scared or embarassed no more to say 'I dont know' If didnot know something. I am not scared to say ' I donot agree' if i did not agree with some one's point of view.

2) Be Self Consious : I am trying more than ever to be self conscious of my actions and the events happening as a result of my actions. I am more willing to consciously analyze the reasons of some unfortunate events in my life. I had been avoiding the reality so far and was repressing the rational evaluation of my effort so that I would not feel guilty for the inadequacy in my effort to set things right. Little did I know that, this behavior was a definite recipe for disaster.

I have benifited immensely by reading this book and would recommend to any one who wants to better understand why things happen to him, the way they happen and how he or she can make things happen rather than wait for them to happen.

Thank you Branden for this amazing work

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Federer, the Invincible


I had the fortune to watch the US open finals today between, Roger Federer and Andy Roddick. It was amazing to watch Federer play with such ease and finesse. Undoubtedly he must be the best player the game has ever produced. He had some anxious moments in the second and third sets of the game, but he managed to raise his game everytime Roddick seemed to pull off a surprise.

He seemed very calm on the court and rarely vented his emotions. The best part of the game 2 succesive games in the third set when Federer saved 4 break points and Andy followed it up by saving 5 break points. These two great players rivalry is a treat to watch.

Andy had a great serve and good forehand. Roger seemed to be best in every facet of a game. If there is one part that had a considerable amount of improvement, it was his backhand.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Who am I

I am a confused soul, who is lost in one of the following worlds
1) World of Literature filled with love , beauty, romance, passion and truth
2) World of Juniper , finding bugs in other people's designs with a sadistic fervour
3) World of Philosophy, trying to comprehend and insinuate the truth of being the supreme.
4) World of Music, as diverse as classical Indian, catchy bollywood and adult alternative
5) World of Sports, dominated by cricket, and lately by soccer
6) World of Psychology, uncovering the mysterious ways, human mind works
And
7) My very own world of fantastic but fascinating dreams

Sunday, June 18, 2006

EGO = "Edge God out"

I had the fortune to attend two lectures this week by Swami Sukhabodhananda, on the topic of , Bhagvadh Gita's relavence in our lives. I was rather sceptical in my expectations of enjoying the lecture, but to my surprise, I enjoyed the first one so much that, I didnt want to miss the second.

Swamiji has the ability to add right doses of humour in his talk that make his lecture entertaining in addition to being enlightening. His speaking skills are excellent and he connects with the audience and grabs their attention very quickly. He puts in a lot of effort to make the audience understand the difference between knowledge and wisdom. In his own style, he says, undigested knowledge is the obesity of mind. Though this talk was meant to give the aroma of Gita (in swamiji's words), he uses apt references from Buddhism, poems of Kabir das, to drive home the point of living consciously while being calm and alert.

He says, if we make an effort to understand the answer to the question, "Who am I", most of the miseries we go through in day to day life seem to be the result of fallacies created by our mind. He goes on to answer this question saying, we are not the body that represents us physically, neither are we our emotions , nor the intellect, but we are the conscious sense of being. One punch line if I want to remember from this lecture is the definition of ego being "Edge God out".

Heres the url for his website
http://www.swamisukhabodhananda.net/

Monday, May 08, 2006

A beautiful Poem by EE Cummings

I carry your heart with me

i carry your heart with me
i carry it in my heart

i am never without it
anywhere i go you go,my dear;
and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling

i fear no fate for you are my fate,my sweet
i want no world for beautiful you are my world,my true
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;
which grows higher than soul can hope or mind can hide
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart
i carry it in my heart

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Are you a man yet ?

If by Rudyard Kipling


"If you can keep your head
when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son! "

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

When will the tyranny end ??

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=179785


A 17 year girl commited suicide by jumping off the third floor of her school. The family claims that the school authorities were putting her through stress, that resulted in her taking the fatal decision while the school authorities are blaming the girls personal life was the driving force for her death.

Most of the kids spend their childhood, wraught with tensions, fear and stress. They get lost in the rat race that is created by schools and actively supported by parents. Both the schools and families should be blamed for this tragic situation of the children that has become a norm in our society. I can hardly remember the days when I enjoyed my time at school and there was hardly any time, I looked forward for a working day at school. Even the games class in the school, which is supposed to be a fun class, was not enjoyable to me as most of the PT teachers treated us like weaklings, on whom they can take out some of the frustrations off their personal lives. As a kid, I was tremondously afraid to speak up to a teacher and there is not a single teacher I can think of, who encouraged this with his or her students. Sadly the same apathy towards free thinking and free speech continues through our adoloscence and adulthood. The teachers seem to enjoy the fear that the students harbour in them and I suspect this gave them a false sense of being important that they missed so badly in their personal lives.

We have had enough of this tyranny and it is high time we bring out a revolution in the way the kids are treated in our society. Its time we treat our kids as kids, literally or else stories like this will become a common occurance.

Friday, April 21, 2006

Some Humour


Carpe Diem

A poem by Robert Herrick in 1600's that talks about the importance of present and exhorts the women (people in general), to make most of the present instead of waiting for the future.

Robin Williams playing the role of John Keating in the movie "Dead poets society", reads this poem to inspire his students to become extraordinary and to make most of their youth (present). He teaches them the latin term Carpe diem which means Seize the day, for the sentiment "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may". Captivating words of wisdom these....

To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time
---------------------------------------------

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he's a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he's to setting.

That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,
And while ye may, go marry:
For having lost but once your prime,
You may for ever tarry.


Robert Herrick

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

The Prologue to Bertrand Russell's Autobiography

What I Have Lived For

" Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a great ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.

I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy - ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness--that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what--at last--I have found.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.

Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate this evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.

This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me. "






For starters, Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) won the Nobel prize for literature for his History of Western Philosophy and was the co-author of Principia Mathematica.

Sir Betrand Russell has had a great influence on me. The same three passions he mentioned in his prologue seem to hold sway on my life at this moment. To be able to articulate his emotions and understanding of life so beautifully is an amazing skill. I have read his book "The conquest of happiness" and this book has influenced a lot, my perception of happyness and life. I am looking forward to read his autobiography

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

How abnormal am I ?




You Are 36% Abnormal



You are at low risk for being a psychopath. It is unlikely that you have no soul.



You are at high risk for having a borderline personality. It is very likely that you are a chaotic mess.



You are at low risk for having a narcissistic personality. It is unlikely that you are in love with your own reflection.



You are at medium risk for having a social phobia. It is somewhat likely that you feel most comfortable in your mom's basement.



You are at low risk for obsessive compulsive disorder. It is unlikely that you are addicted to hand sanitizer.

Saturday, April 08, 2006

My nephew Chintu


Does nature's creation get any cuter than him?

The king of melody - Ilayaraja

In my opinion Ilayaraja is the best music director India has ever produced. Some of the songs he had composed are so melodious that you dont get tired even after listening to them a million times. Some people might argue that Rahman is the best of the lot. I am a big admirer of Rahman's work as well. But I dont find the same longevity and melody in Rahmans compositions as I find in Ilayaraja's work. I listened to most of Raja's songs composed for Telugu film industry and a few composed for Bollywood. But this might be only a minor share of his work, since a majority of his work was in tamil, a language that I do not understand. Thanks to my friends of tamil origin, especially Venkat, I have had the oppurtunity to listen to some of Raja's great hits and I have been all admiration and awe for his music. I wish I could understand Tamil, as I am told, the lyrics of some of the songs make them much more beautiful. A few songs of Raja, I greatly adore

1) Aei Zindagi gale laga le from SADMA : The highlight of this song is that many number of instruments are used to compose it and never do you feel the transition of their effect on your ears. The instrument usage is very coherent and the lyrics of this song is simply out of this world.

2) Kanne kalaimane from MoonramPirai: This movie is the Tamil version of Sadma. Melody oozes from every node of the music and add to it the voice of Jesudas...this song is a cracker. And this song is picturised on possibly the best Indian actor and actress in last two decades, Kamal Hassan and Sridevi.
..... to be continued

A song full of emotions by INXS


I surmise that every one of us experiences heartbreak at some point of their life. This song "Afterglow" by INXS (pronounced as In excess) beautifully summerizes the raging emotions experienced during one of those life threatening moments.

You may watch the video here http://music.yahoo.com/video/default.asp?vid=29604319

" Here I am, lost in the light of the moon that comes through my window. Bathed in blue, the walls of my memory divide the thorns from the roses. It's you and the roses

Touch me and I will follow in your afterglow. Heal me from all this sorrow As I let you go I will find my way when I see your eyes. Now I'm living in your afterglow

Here I am, lost in the ashes of time, but who owns tomorrow?
In between the longing to hold you again I'm caught in your shadow, I'm losing control. My mind drifts away, we only have today

Touch me and I will follow in your afterglow Heal me from all this sorrow. As I let you go I will find my wayI will sacrifice 'til the blinding day when I see your eyes. Now I'm living in your afterglow

When the vails are gone, as I let you go, as I let you go

Touch me and I will follow in your afterglowHeal me from all this sorrowAs I let you go I will find my way, I will sacrifice. Now I'm living in your afterglow Bathed in blue, the walls of my memory divide the thorns from the roses. It's you who is closest"

Sunday, April 02, 2006

Happy Course at Harvard University

I watched a video at CNN that talked about a class on positive psychology taught by Prof Tal Ben Scharar at Harvard University. This class teaches on how to be happier (Note that I did not say How to be happy). I wish that this kind of class is made mandatory in Indian students academic curriculum aswell.

Right from the day we join schools, we get so lost in the competitive madness of outscoring our class mates, neighbours or any peer you are aware of, that we never give a thought to what exactly makes us happy. In this video, a graduate student says that 3 questions that were raised in this class made her to rethink her career choice.

1. What do you find pleasure in?
2. What is that you are good at ?
3. What is that you find meaningful to do?

3 questions any one must ask oneself before making his or her career decisions. I hope these are taught in Indian schools one day...
http://www.cnn.com/video/partners/clickability/index.html?url=/video/education/2006/03/31/lothian.harvard.happiness.cnn

Saturday, March 25, 2006

An Indian girl does a Charlize Theron

An Indian girl, Neelima has filed a lawsuit against her employer Caremark RX Inc, claiming that she was racially abused. To read more

http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?SESSIONID=&aId=6275



Go Neelima Go.... Be a rebel

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Venkatesh prasad - Aamir Sohail duel

I can never forget the great duel between Aamir Sohail and Venkatesh prasad from World cup 96 match in Bangalore. I can forgive Prasads genorisity all his career to jayasurya and saeed anwar, for this one delivery that uprooted Sohails half stump

Blogs - The best thing to happen in my life

I have been reading blogs for over 2 years now. As a kid I was not a big fan of reading, though that was the first thing I would claim as to be my hobby (to sound cool). As a kid, I would rather spend my time watching/playing cricket and movies than getting myself lost in a fat, heavy book. Books were thrust into my hands only by force and my experience of reading was mostly limited to the boring text books. So I was completely unaware of the pleasure and wisdom derived from this act, until my adulthood.

Thanks to the Internet and a few wise and well informed co bloggers, I started to explore a new avenue of pleasure. I owe a lot of information that I am aware of today, to the courtesy of a few bloggers. Naming all of them is not a trivial effort, so I will limit myself to the top 3 whose updates I never miss reading. You can find the links for these blogs in the must read section.


3. Youth Curry: This is written by Rashmi Bansal and was one of the earliest blogs I book marked for regular reading. Being an young guy myself, ( some of my younger friends may tend to disagree with this claim) I find most of her posts very interesting and informative. I like the ones she wrote about making career choices and the difference of perpectives for a girl and a guy about the most taboo subject for we indians, sex.

2. Random thoughts of a demented mind: This is a unique blog on the web and a masterpiece. It is written by great bong who has an amazing sense of humour. I must have read all the archives atleast more than once. Post after post he dishes out humourous, most of the times satirical articles and reviews of a few chosen bollywood movies. He gets the credit to bring upon me the wisdom of Mithunism. Calling him a great bong is an understatement, he should have been called " The greatest living bong" (of course after Mithun Da).

1. Deesha: This is a blog written by Atanu Dey. He mostly writes articles about economics and a few on spirutuality. His writing definitely taught me a whole new perspective of life. The blogs under the section "Letters to Abhisek" are my favourites

Thank you guys for all the blogs ... and Please keep them coming

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Indian Restaurants in Silicon Valley

I lived in San Jose - Santa Clara for nearly 4 years now. During these 4 years I have had the oppurtunity to visit many Indian restaurants thriving in this part of the Bay Area. This attempt of mine is to recollect my experiences at these restaurants

1. Madras cafe in Sunnyvale: A vegetarian place and was inexpensive a few months ago. Now the prices have been hiked and hence not as attractive as it once was. But I must say, I tasted the best sambar (other than my mother's) here. A big thumbs up to their sambar.

2. Swati Tiffins, Santa Clara: As the name suggests its more a tiffin center than a restaurant. Relatively inexpensive and tasty food. Lots of varieties too.

3. Sneha : A restaurant that serves both vegetarian and non vegetarian food. I havent visited this place for nearly 6 months now. but my last two visits before that left a bad taste in my mouth.

4. Saravana Bhavan: Nice place for a good traditional south indian meal. But it is a little harsh on your vallet.

5. KababnCurries, Santa clara: Their dum biryani is very good and I am a big fan of their lamb Korma. But the seating is lousy and not a very comfortable place to enjoy your meal. The buffet at lunch is very good and relatively inexpensive.


...................To be continued

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Welcome to this world


This is the picture of the newest member in my family, my nephew. Welcome to this world Kiddo....

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Batting Manual - by none other than the Wall

Rahul Dravids Magnificient double century against Australia


Monday, March 13, 2006

The greatest day in history of Indian Test cricket


Today is March 14, the very day, our own Very Very Special Laxman created history with a very very special innings. Not to forget Bajjis 7 wicket haul and Mr Dependable's innings of 185, whose amazing partership with Lax broke Steve Waughs dream of conquering the last frontier. Lets bring back those happy memories and feel blissful once again.

Aussie Innings

Crickets greatest game - Australia vs South Africa

India's win and ICC's parsimony

I am extremely pleased at India's victory against England in the second test. I didnot have the fortune of watching it live but I had been following the running text commentary at Cric Info. This text commentary belongs to a class of its own. Some of the words used are not in english , neither in Hindi, I must say Hinglish.

I dont know why the ICC is so greedy for money. Their official website Cricinfo wants to make money from selling audio commentary and they are desperate to stack up every penny. If you think paying for audio commentary sounds absurd, wait until you hear the so called commentary by experts. There are no experts in that commentary panel atleast not anyone I recognize and their coverage is terrible (I cannot sound more melodramatic than that). In a few words it sucks big time. I am glad atleast the text commentary comes free.. I am not sure though for how long its gonna stay that way.

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Jumbo - the king

Image hosting by Photobucket


I always look at this man, Anil Kumble with awe and disbelief. I watched him play every match that he is chosen to play as if it is the last of his life. I must admit that, inspite of realizing that India has still a long time to go before they can win a test match without Kumbles meaningful contribution, I was among those who wanted him to be dropped for Indias tour Down Under last time around. But he proved me and many others like me who doubted his ability wrong, for the nth time.

His reaching the mile stone of 500 wickets in tests is a tribute to his perseverence and self belief. He definitely deserved an oppurtunity to captain India at some point in 16 years of his career but was sadly never considered for captaincy. Considering the kind of sportsman he is and his commitment to his team(bowling with a broken jaw to take Lara's wicket), I hope he is given a lot of say in Indian cricket team selection, once he retires from International cricket. If some one like More (whose only claim to fame is getting on Miandad's nerve with his incessant bashing during a world cup match in 92) can be the chief of selectors, I believe I am not asking for too much.

Iqbal

I watched Nagesh Kukonoors Iqbal last evening. It was a good one to watch. I was impressed by Shweta Prasad's performance as Iqbal's sister. She fully deserved the award she received at Zee filmfare awards, the other day as the best supporting actor - critics ( I never get how that is different from the actual one). Nagesh protrayed the love in Iqbals small and sweet family in very subtle way. The human tendency to search for reasons for his failures rather than confronting his shortcomings, was excellently shown, through Iqbals father citing, Iqbals love for cricket worsening his already fragile situation of his finances. The movie didnot end as impressively as it started though. Iqbal under perfoming in a session of the final match to stack some quick money, seemed to justify match fixing under dire circumstances.

Naseeruddin shah doesnt require any special mentioning. He was excellent as always and the scenes between him and shweta were very well scripted. But I never understood what he claims as "Chakravyuh" stratergy in the movie. I hope atleast Greg Chappel got what it means.....

Overall its a good movie to watch...definitely paisa vasool

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Words of Lalkaar from Rang de Basanthi

Dont know who the author is. I like the last two lines the most.


hai liye hathiyaar dushman taak mein baitha udhar
aur hum taiyyaar hain seena liye apna idhar
khoon se khelenge holi gar vatan muskhil mein hai
sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai
haath jin mein ho junoon katt te nahi talvaar se
sar jo uth jaate hain voh jhukte nahi lalkaar se
haath jin mein ho junoon katt te nahi talvaar se
sar jo uth jaate hain voh jhukte nahi lalkaar se
aur bhadkega jo shola-sa humaare dil mein hai
sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai
hum to ghar se nikle hi the baandhkar sar pe qafan
chaahatein liin bhar liye lo bhar chale hain ye qadam
zindagi to apni mehmaan maut ki mehfil mein hai
sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai
dil mein tuufaanon ki toli aur nason mein inquilaab
hosh dushman ke udaa denge humein roko na aa
duur reh paaye jo humse dam kahaan manzil mein hai
sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai

Latte on your roof - funny

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Sunday, March 05, 2006

Zee Cine Awards - what a farce

I watched the Zee cine awards today on T.V and as usual it was boring and sycophancy ridden. The worst part of the program was the hosting by Karan Johar. I believe his coterie keep telling him that he is a very good host coz he seems to be very convinced of this fact. His sense of humour was out of place and there were some half baked, rehearsed supposedly humurous discussions, which could hardly bring a smile on my face. There was a big section of the program dedicated to Yash Chopra where everyone (especially King Khan) was going gaga about yash chopra and his romantic movies. The best for the last. Shah rukh is nominated for the best actor award for his performace in Paheli!!! Good God, he was not given the best actor award.

Awards for Performance -- huh absolute farce...

Friday, March 03, 2006

A poem by Rabindranath Tagore

This is a beautiful poem, that captivates Tagores vision of India from Gitanjali. I came across it while reading the "Argumentative Indian" by Amartya Sen

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where the clear storm of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Into that heaven of freedom,my Father, let my country awake