A Daydream Believer and a Homecoming Queen

A piece of history, anyone?

2008-02-23T21:00:00.000-08:00

Atul trusts Masand. And when Masand gives 2-thumbs up and 4 stars to Jodhaa Akbar, I need'nt convince Atul, so what if we had to travel an hour plus to reach the theatres in North Pennsylvania. An hour into the movie, and Atul cracks up at every junior actor in the film. And thats my signal that the film has gone far beyond his intellect. This is usually what I expect from him at every hindi movie screening, so I wasnt surpised. However, the film had my rapt attention, till the end credits rolled. I was giving Ashutosh Govarikar a chance. And he let me down.

1. Dude, where's my story-line?
The film turned out to be a documentary about Akbar, in technicolour. I could picture Ashutosh rote-learning my class 5 history text books, wanting to prove the amount of research he's done. Every smirk on Akbar's face had a story to tell. All the anecdotes we've heard about Akbar were right there for us to see (except Tansen+Birbal were nowhere in sight - not that im complaining). The diwane-aam & diwane-khaas, taming of the wild elephants, meetings with his nauratan, blah blah. Thats all good, Ashu- But not at the cost of storyline. The distractions from these sub-plots just spoil the momentum of the film.

2. Ravi Diwan, You're fired.
Ashu, The war scenes were a wash out. Admit it. You obviously didnt take time or effort to screen your junior artists before the big day. And it showed. Each shot had the armies playing what looked like a Navratri dandiya, with shining swords. I admit the war scenes had some decent cinematography, but its not helping!
The duet death match also failed to impress. Lots of potential, but didnt deliver.

4.Roll Sound, Light, Camera, Action. Naheee!!
Ive found a new respect for Hritik. I cannot think of any other actor who could have given a more controlled and dignified performance.He carried the film from start to finish. Bravo! I am not terribly fond of Aishwarya, she did what she had to do. Thankfully I didnt see her do a dola-Re number or I'd flip.

5. HGTV, start at home.
What still stays with me is the grandeur of the movie. And the lovely silk sheers. There was every chance of going gaudy with sets, but Nitin Desai's vision was a dream...I loved what I saw. The costumes were beautiful, and didnt hog the screen space (Devdas did that). Thanks Neeta, for being your subtle best.
After listening to the music of Mangal Pandey (another period film), I didnt have many expectations from Rehman, and I was right. We've listened to better notes from him. Though, Jashne bahar & Inn Lamhon ke grows on you. And by the way, who hired Chinni Prakash?

3. Shake 'em
The movie reminds me a lot about Dil Se. Kapur,Ratnam,SRK,Gulzar,Rehman,Sivan. And Ladhakh. But together, they couldnt stir up the magic. In Jo-Akbar, history seems to be repeating itself in more than one way. Govarikar, Hritik-Ash, Rehman and Nitin Desai will definately pull the crowd, but Im not sure if the film will break any records.

Well, if you ask me - watch it. Once. And remember, Ashutosh could have made a better movie than the one he did eventually.

Jet set go

2007-12-24T23:44:00.000-08:00

When I wrote that Yercaud blog below in February last year, little did I know what the year has in store for Atul and me. When Bejan Daruwala, in his year book of predictions for Pisceans wrote- 2007 is great for Travel, we thot our "quota" of travel was limited to Yercaud. But what followed was a a roller coaster ride from Bangalore- Chennai-Bangalore- Bombay-Bangalore-West Chester,PA (Germany-France for Atul) -Philadelphia-Atlantic city-New Jersey- Washington DC-West Chester,PA. Well, so much for travel..

Yercaud

2007-02-23T02:59:00.000-08:00

Yercaud is this hill station in TamilNadu - about 230 kms from Bangalore. It's got a reputation of being a poor man's Ooty, but I would probably call it a smarter man's Ooty. The reason?? Read on...

This cosy little place is at a drivable distance from the two major cities - Chennai/Bangalore. From Bangalore, we took about five hrs on an Alto (with Atul's driving) and I'm sure with a better car, we could easily have managed in four. I beleive from Chennai, it should not take more than seven hours.

Frankly, there is nothing exceptional in Yercaud. Its like any other south Indian hill station - the lake, the sunset point, some temple and a school. But I guess the beauty of the place lies in these smaller things. The big lake is located centrally and almost welcomes you to town. Surrounding the lake, there are various parks you can visit. That should not take more than an hour. The Pagoda point is at a distance of four km from the lake and enroute you can also visit the Montford school - with its imposing structures, the equestrian park and cattle dairy is bound to impress you. While you are at it, you can also go to Shevaroyan temple and the botanical garden, which does not take more than twenty mins to get there from the big lake. Though, be careful as the botanical garden which claims to to grow some of the rare species of Orchid is closed on Saturdays and Sundays, and on weekdays its open for public between ten and four pm only! Having said that - dont fret if you run out of gas - for there are two petrol bunks on top if this hillock, which is open all day!

Location Location Location... the marketing mantra applies here in this sleepy town as well. We stayed at the Sterling Resort, which (to our surprise) was an amazing experience. Infact, if you manage to get a room here, you dont need to go sightseeing at all! Not even to the famous Lady's seat to which it is situated next to. Its the only hotel in Yercaud which is located on cliff - and architecurally well planned, with all the rooms facing the scenic beauty. Thank your room balcony for it overlooks the glittering Salem city on your left , the winding road up a mountain on your right, a deep valley down below and stars above you.. could this be real?

Well, the place is small and cosy and if you are looking for adventure and action, im sure its not the place for you. You are better off with the Kabinis and Bheemeshwaris. The best part of Yercaud is that you will not find the unnecessary hooplah made out of the little things they have. There are no over-enthusiasts who want to take you for a ride (literally) - they just seem to mind their own business. The best part of our stay was the locals. They are very hospitable and very friendly, down to earth people. You smile and they smile back at you. Simple. They will be more than willing to get off the path when they see you from a distance on a windling road. Yercaud is a place for the city breds who crave to spend some time in the midst of nature...quiet and serene, and yet want to have all the conviniences - various kinds of pastas to Nutella to imported wines and Mozzarella...yes, you get them all in Yercaud!

The Beast Cometh

2007-02-14T03:24:00.000-08:00

I've got me ticket. I'll be there with my oxygen mask.

The Master of the Game

2007-02-01T01:47:00.000-08:00

Nineteen Ninety Three, I was just out of school, and not much of a reader. My literary appeal never went beyond comics and joke books. I used to borrow novels from the school library only to play book cricket in class. More ever the ICSE had enforced Anita Desai’s blessed Village by the Sea on us, and it had left such a negative impression on me that I never felt like lifting another book ever after. It was then that Deepak Sampathi recommended I read Sheldon’s Master of the Game, and there hasn’t been any looking back. So it was Sheldon (and Deepak to a certain extent) which initiated me to the wonderful world of literature. Yes, I read Sheldon before I read Mallory Towers, Famous Five, Sherlock Holmes, and many others. Sometimes I think back to all the prose I missed growing up, and the only thing that makes me feel good that at least I did make a start; late none the less.

Here's to you, Sidney. You made a difference. Rest in peace.

Sidney Sheldon
1917 - 2007

The Blue Brigade in the Caribbean

2007-01-30T22:23:00.000-08:00

The Indian World Cup probables keenly await Valentines day, for its the day that the Indian squad will be announced for the coveted trophy. I am not sure why the team is being announced so late, for I would have liked the BCCI to field the World Cup team for the series against Sri Lanka. This would have given a chance for the team to blend, and to perform as one before the biggie. I guess the reason for the delayed announcement is that they don’t want the final team to face defeat before the biggest contest in cricketing calendar. To each his own, que sera sera, and all that kind of rot.

Before I talk about our chances, I’ll take you through my final fifteen, and I feel only a couple of them are up for debate. I’d stack the team with three openers: Robin Uthappa, Saurav Ganguly, and Virender Sehwag. I choose Sehwag because he has played well in domestic cricket ever since he was dropped. His off-spin can be useful (he bowled reasonably well when we toured there last year) and he can chip in as a fifth bowler. I’d however prefer him to go down the order, as with his style of batting the fielding restrictions and power-plays really don’t come into play. Robin has grasped every opportunity given to him, and has performed extremely well in the domestic circuit as well. He looks like a player who can really utilize the power-plays to his advantage, however the problem is he hasn’t really faced top quality bowling. So I guess we just have to put our faith in him, and wait and watch. Ganguly has made a helluva return at the top of the order, and his slow medium pace and nagging length just might come in handy.

Three certainties to play in the middle order of every match are skipper Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh. This is sure to be Tendulkar’s last World Cup, and there is a lot of talk of retirement in the air. I just hope he bids adieu with some memorable innings like he has in the earlier editions of the World Cup. Dravid has changed his style of play to suit the one-day format, he is a thinking captain and the backbone of the batting order. Yuvraj on the other hand is a paradox, he has oodles of talent but lacks in application. Some of his innings against Pakistan come to mind, when he was labeled as a finisher. Hopefully he will get some of his form back in time for the crucial ties.

I’d choose two wicket keepers since it’s a long tourney, and think that even both can play. On the wicket keeping front I guess both are on par so it could be shared, especially in the warm ups and the first round matches. Both batsmen have shown us their mettle when it comes to batting in the middle order – however Dhoni seems more comfortable setting a total, Karthink seems more apt at chasing.

On the fast bowling front we lack a quality pacer, but seeing the wickets in the Windies last year one can safely say that they are no longer best suited for fast bowlers. The spinners performed fantastically well, and I’d go in with two of our best: Harbhajan and Kumble and might even consider playing them both in some matches. I’d also be interested to see Kumble bowl in the power-plays – his tight line should be difficult to hoik. I was tempted to pick Powar as well, but then chose otherwise.

The medium pacers I would choose are lrfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar, S. Sreesanth, and Munaf Patel. Irfan hasn’t bowled very well in South Africa where the ball was seaming/swinging about, but lets face it – he is the only all rounder we got. He can go up the order as a pinch hitter in big matches, so that Dhoni can be saved for the killer punch. Plus he provides solidarity to the batting coming in low down. Zaheer has really impressed ever since his return, his stint in county cricket has surely helped him. His experience in playing international sides makes him invaluable in the side and I’d expect him to play all the matches from the second round. It was a toughie to choose between Srisanth and going in for another spinner in Ramesh Powar. I chose Srisanth because he was the pick of the bowlers against the Springboks. Of course he was more comfortable in the tests, but he showed what he is all about. He was hammered to all parts of the ground in India, but then the pitches weren’t conducive to his kind of bowling. Plus he wasn’t too comfortable bowling with the new ball, so it's tough to say. Agarkar forms the last of the medium pacer quintuplets, and is almost a certainty to play.

Whilst the Indian batting looks solid on paper, it all comes down to how well they play on the day. The batting seems to be clicking on the batter friendly wickets in India, but its going to be a different ball game in the islands. Also the Indian fielding will sorely miss the likes of Kaif and Raina; without them the fielding looks dodgy to say the least. With quite a few seniors almost certain to play the ground fielding is one area where I see India loosing the edge.

So who gets the boot? Noticeable are Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Ramesh Powar, Dinesh Mongia, Rudra Pratap Singh, VVS Laxman, and Gautam Gambhir amongst others. Sorry guys.

Ardent cricket fans should feel that we are "peaking" at the right time. Remember we were in the proverbial doldrums just before the start of the previous edition. We were whallopped in Kiwi land, and then even lost a warm up match against ex-pat Punjabis who didn’t make it into the final Natal XI. We even lost our first match against the Aussies only to win every match after that to face them once again in the final (which we no doubt lost). So what about this year? We are placed in group B alongside Bermuda, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. The top two teams in this group would be dictated by who wins the India v SL match, but either ways we should make it to the next round. My predictions for the remainder of the teams which make the super eight are Australia and South Africa (group A), New Zealand and England (group C), West Indies and Pakistan (group D).

It’s difficult to predict how India’ll play against the stronger teams. I guess I’ll be able to comment only when I see them perform in the first round. So watch do this space.

All said and done, I’ll be dressed in blue and supporting the Indian lads all the way. I think India's cricket losses become easier to swallow when you accept the fact that we aren’t the best. We are bound to loose to the better teams, so be happy even when we go down fighting.

Good luck to Dravid and his soldiers. Hope they've been inspired by that Shetty chick.

Wake Up and Smell the Coffee

2007-01-24T23:55:00.000-08:00

I am sick of hearing about the poor, defenseless Shilpa Shetty.

I am sick of hearing about the nefarious, racist Jade Goody.
I am sick of the media giving them unwarranted attention.
I am sick of the people SMSing in their support for the has-been Bollywood belle.

I think some people actually think that this whole charade is genuine. That Shilpa has been insulted and needs our support. This thing is as real as Baba Sehgal’s diploma. Come on guys, can't you see?? The writing on the wall is clear : the whole thing is a setup, a dodge, a play, a natak, another attempt by channel 4 to muster up TRPs. You don’t believe me? Just take a step back from all the media induced hysteria and think logically, stop thinking from your heart and use your brain (sorry Baba, this rules you out).

Shilpa Shetty is unknown in the UK, she is also unknown to a lot of Indians. She can't remember her last hit, not because it was long ago, but because there never was one. Her career is all but bust in Bollywood with the arrival of all the new chicks on the block. So when someone offers you three crore smackers for sitting in a house and do what you do best (i.e. nothing) would you think twice before signing on the dotted?

Jade Goody is unknown to the world. I wish I could write more about her but I have no clue, I couldn't even find any information on the web. Now if you’re given a lot of money to be rude to someone you hardly know, then allowed to publicly apologize to gain sympathy, and then have an all expense paid trip to India (for soul cleansing) would you think twice before signing on the dotted?

So C4 or Endemol the production company script a racism row – starring Goody the rogue, and poor Shilpa the victim. Both get what they want: publicity – and remember folks, there is nothing negative in negative publicity. Goody gets to visit India, her perfume brand gets reorganization she could have only dreamed of, and many people have forgiven her after her tear jerking apology. Apart from global support, Shilpa Shetty gets fantastic modeling offers from the UK. Don’t believe me? Reach out for today’s daily or read this.

The article talks about Shilpa’s mum going to London to be there for Shilpa. To offer maternal support and to wait for her when she makes an exit. Cadswallop!! If you believe that you’ll believe that you'll get a free iPod if you forward an email to ten friends. Well, Hello, mommy is going there for no other reason than to sign contracts. Shilpa has given a power of attorney to her mum before she went in, and now mummsy dearest is doing as instructed.

Whilst I have nothing against Ms. Shetty for raking in the moolah, as I might have done the same if I was made the same proposal. What peeves me no end are the number of fools who discuss this farce like it’s an issue of national importance. People SMS'ing in their support, oh puhlease, she doesn’t need it. You’ve just put in six bucks per SMS into the bank of idiocy.

So to summarise, the following are in to gain: Shilpa Shetty, Jade Goody, the mobile network company, the channel, the production company, and the tourism authority of India. You and I are the only ones in to loose. Wake up and smell the coffee.

PS: I’m appalled, nay dismayed at the tourism authority of India’s invitation to Jade Goody. But I’m so p*ssed off with this whole issue that I shan’t dignify this development with comment.

New Hobby

2007-01-24T23:08:00.000-08:00

I've begun flickring. Nope, I'm not a pervert.

Bride and Prejudice

2007-01-22T22:06:00.000-08:00

Two people who have hogged the spotlight, and headlined newspapers nation wide (for all the wrong reasons are Shilpa Shetty and Aishwaria Rai). Whilst Aish is all set to be the bride, Shilpa has gotten her share of prejudice.

The Nithari killings took second billing the day Shilpa Shetty decided to join the list of has-been celebrities, hoping for career rekindlement through Big Brother. Well, I doubt that even Ms. Shetty would have known that this move would put her onto the news worldwide. Just goes to show that there ain’t anything negative in negative publicity.

Well, before we go ahead and call the English racists, why don’t we reflect on ourselves for a minute? Don’t we Indians also fall into a similar category? Don’t we also distinguish based on religion, cast, creed, all the way down to sub-cast? Look no further than the matrimonial page on any newspaper for your daily dosage of racism, or shall we euphemisme it to narrow mindedness? The want of the hour are only thin girls of fair completion (or shall I say fair and lovely) - so what about the many other single girls who wouldn’t fall into that category, or those who happen to be divorced or widowed? Would they feel any better than Shilpa? In a time when grooms-to-be reject possible alliances based on photographs - we have a parade and burn cutouts of Tony Blair (who had absolutely nothing to do with this) when Ms. Shetty was called Shilpa Poppadum in a reality television program.

Have a look at the house rentals on the weekend classifieds, and you’ll find many that are reserved only for certain sects. I know well placed friends belonging to certain religions finding it very difficult to find a place to rent. Educated, working class guys with families finding it difficult to find an apartment in a cosmopolitan Indian metro – and we can’t believe our ears when someone raises their voice on Shilpa in a reality television program - even as certain parts of Bangalore burn under communal tension.

We are living in a time when tens of thousands of people in Bangalore communities on orkut want “outsiders” to go home. One member lists out the outsiders as tams, northies, mallus, gults, bhayyas, and some others which even I haven’t heard of. Blatant segregation based upon their state of birth and we cover our open mouths in shock when Goody called Shilpa “the Indian” in a reality television program. We take offense when an dumb English dame makes fun of Shilpa’s accent, whilst we don't think twice before poking at the accent of another Indian due to regional phonetics - be it at work, or even on the telly. Oh, it's just good clean fun, but only as long as we do it; Let a non-Indian do the same and we cry out racial discrimination in unison.

Just in case my hints were overlooked, we're talking about what happens inside the Big Brother house - a reality show which requests its housemates to spice up the time they spend in so as to entertain the millions watching them twenty four hours a day. These guys (including Shilpa) will do anything for TRPs, and I'm sure Shilpa will return with a huge cheque for her troubles - over and above the three crore she gets for participation. So she's laughing all the way to the bank. Please remember that Shilpa is not representing India – I can give you three crore reasons why, and I’m sure she will subject herself to more abuse for a little more moola. Kaaching!!

Now don’t get me wrong – I’m not supporting Goody, or any of her comments. However I just want to bring about the bigotry and double standards that exists in us all - it's almost like we're auto programmed to be so. So before we demand that the rest of the world see us eye to eye and treats us as equal, why don’t we try and do the same with our fellow Indian? Or would that be asking too much?

Let there be Light

2007-01-17T03:59:00.000-08:00

It took 13 attempts to get it just right. Happy Pongal.

For those who'd like to use it as wallpaper: Click here. On the site, click on the magnification glass icon to enlarge.

Guru : The Forgettable Hero

2007-01-15T23:54:00.000-08:00

This has been the first time since Dil Se, that Mani Ratman has disappointed (me); for Guru is insipid and uninspiring to say the least (judging by Mani Ratman’s standards), and at the end it leaves the viewer with a sense of incompletion and dissatisfaction.

I shall not dwell on the story, you can pick that up from many other blogs, or better yet watch the movie (yes, its definitely a one timer). I’ll get a little nitpicky and go through the areas which I thought could do with a tuck and some repair.

First off, I think the movie could do much better with a reference timeline. We have no clue about the passage of time. One could tell that the movie spanned at least thirty years of Guru’s life but how old was he when he got married, how old was he when Sujata left him, and how much later did they re-unite? All of a sudden Guru is seen with a patch of white hair, whilst Sujata looks as young as ever (although she is older), then they have kids, and before you know it Sujatha looks ten years older than she did before childbirth. Guru seems to put on weight and then loose it in a bat of an eyelid (like in the birthday celebrations in Ramgadh). Of course this can be possible since the movie is spread over time, but since the time gaps (or shall we say jumps) are not mentioned it becomes very difficult to keep track (at least it was for me). The only time a reference was given was during the court room drama, which really didn’t make too much of a difference. Even a narration would have helped, but the it was totally forgotten after the initial mental monologue.

Also what was Guru doing in Turkey (other than oogling at the Malika Sherawat in a fantastic item number)? What he was doing at the clothes market also didn’t make too much sense to me. Maybe I’m unfamiliar with the way the market worked back then, but I’m sure I’m not the only one. Guru’s success in the market was briefly shown, but his success in the polyester business was hardly ever explored. It was lost in the middle of another time jump and song sequence (or was it).

Whilst Sujatha’s leaving Guru was justified, their getting back together was an anticlimax to say the least. And so was the ending where I the similarity to The Aviator was unmistakable. More ever Suhatha’s character wasn’t very well defined, in fact you rarely pay any attention to her as Guru steals the show. However I must say that Aishwaria wasn’t half as bad as I would have expected, but I wonder how much more believability Rani Mukerjee would have bought to the storyline.

The soundtrack by Rehman is excellent, but I’m sure that even he is disappointed with the positioning of the songs. Other than the item number, and the song which introduces Airhswaria for the first time the rest of the songs are either incomplete or badly placed. Also Saroj Khan fails to impress with her choreography, some of it was just plain amateur. Aish keeps doing the same classical dance sequence in each and every song, except the ek lo ek muft number – which I'm sorry to say is the crappiest song in the Rehman songbook.

On the performances front, I guess its only Abhishek and Mithunda who will be remembered. Aish is already forgotten, and so has Madhavan who really struggles to be noticed. He and Vidya Balan share absolutely no onscreen chemistry. The proposal scene had all the romance of an cesspool.

Mani Ratnam has replaced his trademark scene of running children, with rain sequences. Including one where Guru conducts a general body meeting with all his share holders in the midst of a heavy downpour.

Also I didn't quite understand how the fact that Guru was making money for his share holders (and India) was good enough for the jury to overlook all the crimes he'd been committing. Guru's defense was half witted and wouldn't stand in any court. I guess the message is good guys can do anything rotten. We all know that Guru is based on Dhirubhai Ambani, then why add a fictitious element by blessing Guru with twin girls or as he puts it double munafa?

Of course there are some fantastic scenes in the movie, straight from the Mani Ratnam master class and no matter what the movie is a must see. I guess I’m being over critical, but this is Mani Ratmam we’re talking about, so the expectations are bound to be high.

Second Thoughts
Arvind pointed out something that Ananya and I discussed as we drove home - the fact that Guru moves both his hands at the final speech, whist at court he had said that one of his appendages had been rendered useless. Ananya said that he could have either been trying to get some sympathy in court, or that he just got better with time. I think that it was either perjury, or a oversight on Mani Ratnam's part.

Also I don't know if it was only me who noticed but wasn't the camera jerking a little too much in the climax? I guess the camera man was very excited to see Aishwaria at close quarters.

Vidodaweek : Remembering Frank

2007-01-10T20:40:00.000-08:00

Rest in Peace, Ferret Face.

Hits and Misses

2007-01-07T21:47:00.000-08:00

Just went through our blog counter, and found out much to my surprise that we're averaging four hits a day is fantastic especially since I cant remember the last time we've actually posted an readable post. So a big thank you to all those who've been dropping by. Anyways, I went through some of the Google search hits that directed unsuspecting folk to our blog. Here are some of the keywords, some are quirky, and others are downright strange:

buy dravid effigies
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saiyan dil me ana re
bappi lehri
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Of Babel and Babool

2007-01-07T20:54:00.000-08:00

We’re going through a proverbial fall from grace after our holiday, so this Saturday we do what we do on any given Saturday in this fair city – visit one of its many malls. I’m not a huge fan of blowing up in excess of five hundred bucks at a multiplex for a movie I’d much rather give a miss especially when I can watch it for a fraction of the cost at our local theaters Cauvery, and Vaibhav. However after all the shopping we did in Mumbai, we were in no mood to do anymore so we decided to watch a couple of flicks since we were already at the mall. As it turned out we saw Babel and Babool, one was brilliant and another was bollocks! Pardon my French, but you’ll have an idea of the aggravation I bear only when you see the movie.

In the last few years I have been rather tolerant to the bollywood productions, and I’m even okay when local flicks underestimate my intelligence, but this was a downright insult. The film started off on a bad note, and then consistently went downhill. The melodrama was painful, the story was wearisome, the performances were dreary, and Salman Khan made even my pop corn taste foul. One word review: Don’t.

Babel on the other hand is a must watch, especially if you enjoyed Crash. Although the story line was nowhere as interesting or gripping as the later, Balel the newest flick from the team of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Guillermo Arigaga is a film about an innocent gunshot heard all around the world. It’s a movie about the confusion and chaos that has entered our lives due to rampant globalism, about the search for one’s inner self in materialistic times, and about hope at the time of despair.

The storyline takes you to the deserts of Sudan, to the high streets of Tokyo, and then to the Mexican country side. Four stories running in parallel, six families, each one closely connected to the other by chance. However unlike Crash, the stories here are not chronological but rather like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that all add up in the end to give you the full picture. A definite must see. And if the review didn’t do enough for you to head to the nearest screening, check out the trailer:

From The Tower of Babel (Genesis 11: 1-9)

1. And all the earth had one language and one tongue.
2. And it came about that in their wandering from the east, they came to a stretch of flat country in the land of Shinar, and there they made their living-place.
3. And they said one to another, Come, let us make bricks, burning them well. And they had bricks for stone, putting them together with sticky earth.
4. And they said, Come, let us make a town, and a tower whose top will go up as high as heaven; and let us make a great name for ourselves, so that we may not be wanderers over the face of the earth.
5. And the Lord came down to see the town and the tower which the children of men were building.
6. And the Lord said, See, they are all one people and have all one language; and this is only the start of what they may do: and now it will not be possible to keep them from any purpose of theirs.
7. Come, let us go down and take away the sense of their language, so that they will not be able to make themselves clear to one another.
8. So the Lord God sent them away into every part of the earth: and they gave up building their town.
9. So it was named Babel, because there the Lord took away the sense of all languages and from there the Lord sent them away over all the face of the earth.

Vidodaweek : No Vangelism Like Evangelism

2007-01-07T20:14:00.000-08:00

My ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is..

Vidodaweek

2007-01-04T01:17:00.000-08:00

Yes folks, that is Narendra Hirwani.

Priti's Chronicles - Part Deux

2007-01-01T18:56:00.000-08:00

Cyclopedia’s Mops - Behind the Curtains

Wow, it almost sounds like a dream, we won Code Olympics again! Isn’t it Fabulous?

Well, before I start with story of whole event, I would start with comments of people out there in our CD team. Of course it was kind of difficult to absorb the fact that we won 1st prize again in same event and hence they joked - "How much you paid under the tables?" "How much butter was bought on the final day?" and "Whether judges knew us before or we personally know them" or "what was so special about our team" ? . I didn’t find any reason to give them the answer as they were quite kidding but then here I think I should mention that there was one of the strongest points we hold in our team of Cyclopedia's Mops and that was a proper understanding amongst us. I also think we knew it from beginning that we have something different in us and then by seeing the hard efforts of our UI guys and rest of the team’s trust in them; GOD (& probably judges ;-)) was kind enough to give this memorable moment in our lives of 6 people.

I will dedicate this blog to our captain - Atul Savur. This time he wants some goody goody names for him as last time there was a special name called BLUFF-MASTER in my previous blog of Code Olympics about which he was not quite happy. Hmmm.....This time I really don’t have any words to describe this perfect man or rather an everlasting list of names/tags like "LORD of CO Rings", "KING of Cyclopedia's Mop", "CHAMPION of champions", "a CONFIDENT player", "a person who knows how to remove "IM" from "IMPOSSIBLE", "a true BELEIVER" and the list will go on and on and on.. ? . But to keep it simple I finally have one name for him "Professor Dumbledore". This is because Dumbledore is most powerful magician and omniscient headmaster of Hogwarts as per one of his and my favorite book "Harry Potter".
(But P.S: Atul has not got the long snowy beard as of now ;-))

I wish as long as I live in SAP and participate in CO, I would always remain in his team. He worked in such a way; that CO night became a night w/o darkness (because of his collection of remixed songs) and next day was day w/o strong sunlight for us (because of his countless efforts).

Next comes the turn of Ram. I was personally more comfortable this time as I already knew four of my team-mates except him. But I never realized that I am working with him for the first time. I hope he also believes the same for me ;-). To describe Ram he can be compared with some of characteristics of Lord "Rama" - a quiet person, Optimistic, greatly dedicated to his deeds and obviously he shares the same name. But I would prefer giving him the honor of "Arjuna" rather. Gosh! The answer that he gave to judges on the semifinal day of our presentation was like leaving a arrow from bow straight into the eye of bird (oops judges?). Thanks Ram for doing right thing at right time in right place to a right person.

People who know code Olympics (and who have read my previous blog ;-)) would probably need no Introduction about this guy - Rahul. He is the person in himself. I don’t know how to compare with others, he can think of any wired and interesting ideas that made us and people listen to him. At times, he used to change the game completely to a different direction and motivate us for the same - like a spinner ?; but surprisingly his spinning didn’t work that day with judges as he was little nervous and tired for our first presentation. For this I think he felt bad and sorry. But then I would appreciate that at least he has guts to stand in front and face their strange and scary questions. (If I look at myself; I am so shameless creature, I can’t imagine even to go in front and speak something like these guys, GOD knows when I will start getting motivated with attitude of these people).

Since now I am done with Guys, it is round of introduction for we gals. To start with Sheema, she is like delicate cutest girl ("Woman" - I hope she doesn’t mind calling her woman as she recently got married ;-)) in our team. She was happy to be part of this team and she was ready to support us in any way that she could. I was really impressed in way to see that she spend hours with us without acting like a newly married bride. But then she is lucky to get support in turn from her better half. Her always smiling face and full of interesting ideas made our life pretty easy that night.

Sindhu, I wish if I get my days back when I was just out of college and working for my first job, I would become like her. It was amazing to see her smartness and ideas for our solution which I can never imagine. Well, one day we should check her mobile phone as she has got very strong network (no, no! not the hutch/reliance network, but her friend’s network?) It is spread to such a great extent that she quickly arranged her friends to cheer and applause for us on the final day of presentation with just few calls from here cell phone. So next time if one needs crowd they know whom to contact ;-). She devotes herself for her friends and the same she did it for our team on CO Day and of course to mention here her patience with designing the famous adobe pfd forms. I hope my no. is also there in her friend’s list.

Lastly, what should I write about myself, I am hopeless case except that I am lucky to get people like my team-mates. But it was little tough for me having so much tension about so called CD term "Escalated Project". I almost thought that I have lost participation this time as I had to prepare for my customer visit but thankfully I was there and at the end I got the chance to record all this in my personal diary?. I seriously didn’t want to miss it, as this is one of very few favorite and interesting gatherings in my lonely year. For me it was not only those 24 hours but I kept dreaming about it for next 24 hours ("night dreaming" as after working for whole night people tend to sleep in day time also). But I kept smiling with myself when I used to think of few funny moments that we had on CO Day. Though I was not present to get the feeling of final trophy but was so excited after hearing that the trophy was with our team. Due to some un-expected technical problems during the presentation, I thought probably we will be runners -up this time but then again belief of my team-mates was thankfully strong than my stupid superstitions.

The problem given to us was to "Curb the Crime in Karnataka". Sounds funny if you think of implementing and coding this rather than socially dealing with it, but then it all became interesting and realizable when we started getting involved deeply in the situation. We started giving names for every character who, will directly or indirectly use our application like "Thula Ram"- He will be the inspector who can view complaints and criminals, "Cheryl" (she was main heroine according to our director Atul) will be the admin who will listen to janta and would maintain the records, and finally Alex- He will always be criminal with photo having long mustache when anyone will look for a suspect in a crime, having grey hair, dark skin and brown eyes?. In all- we were quite comfortable with our initial picture and then it was not that difficult to convert our ideas to technical things. But I remember we had to work hard as when other people were getting ready to go home, we were trying to bring every possibility in our solution that would impress judges. Finally the results were appreciated after all this.

After writing this, I wish I can write it once again next year but then it would all be incomplete with one of the strongest pillar of our team-Rahul. As Rahul is going to start his new life with further MBA degree, he will not be with us. But I can already imagine him as a proper businessman signing a contract or a cheque of his employees in a smart blazer?. We are sure he will again make it at top in his career and will leave a sign of presence within his new circle. So "Cheers and Good Luck" to him. Cyclopedia Mops will definitely miss his ideas.

Whose Line is it Anyway ?

2006-12-14T22:15:00.001-08:00

Mai tumhara ehasaan zindagi bhar nahin bhuloonga
Itnay paisay tum kahan se laaye?
Main tumharay bina mar jaa-oonga
Yeh anyay hai bhagwan
Bataoo, heeray kahan hai
Tum mayre liye mar chuke ho
Puliss meray peechay lagi hui hai
Kanoon ke haath kaafi lambe hote hain
Apne aadmiyon se kaho ki bandookein phhek de
Dunyaki koi takat hame juda nahi kar sakti
Mujhe tumhaare is behte hue khoon ki kasam
Mere hotey huay tumhara koi baal bhi baaka nahin kar sakta
Yeh meri maa keh kangan hai
Khabardaar joe usse haat bhee lagaya
Isse davao ki nahin, duavao ki zaroorat hain
Maa, main first class first pass ho gaya
Maa, main ab dekh sakta hoon
Driver, gaadi roko
Mein tumhare bacche ki maa banne wali hoon
Maine injection de diya hain, subah tak hosh aa jaana chahiye

Cyclopedia's Mops - The Music Video

2006-12-12T21:50:00.000-08:00

Starring:
Ramprasad S and Priti Mulchandani, designed and developed all of the enterprise services.
Sindhu Srinivas and Sheema Durrani, wowed us with PDF integration.
Rahul Tongia and Atul Savur, tried their hand at Visual Composer, CAF, and MDM.

Twice Bitten

2006-12-11T05:55:00.000-08:00

Cyclopedia's Mops a team consisting of Rahul Tongia, Priti Mulchandani, Ramprasad S, Sheema Durrani, Sindhu Srinivas and yours truly braved sleep deprivation, exhaustion, and idea overflow to win the coveted SAP Code Olympics title for the second time. The results were announced just a few minutes ago. Thought I'd shoot a blog before re-joining the festivities. Missing in picture is Priti who couldn't be there for the award ceremony as she had to fly to Italy.

Details to follow.

Vidodaweek : Go to School

2006-11-26T19:35:00.000-08:00

Conversely Contrary

2006-11-19T22:11:00.000-08:00

Today an email from Shibani reminded me of what my mathematics lecturer from college used to say (and he has been quoted by so many) If a statement is true, the inverse is also logically true. Likewise, when the converse is true, the contrapositive is also logically true.

Check out these contradicting proverbs:
All good things come to those who wait but Time and tide wait for no man.
The pen is mightier than the sword but Actions speak louder than words.
Wise men think alike but Fools seldom differ.
The best things in life are free but There's no such thing as a free lunch.
Slow and steady wins the race but Time and tide wait for no man.
Look before you leap but Strike while the iron is hot.
Do it well, or not at all but Half a loaf is better than none.
Birds of a feather flock together but Opposites attract.
Don't cross your bridges before you come to them but Forewarned is forearmed.
Doubt is the beginning of wisdom but Faith will move mountains.
Great starts make great finishes but It ain't over 'till it's over.
Practice makes perfect but All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
Silence is golden but The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
You're never too old to learn but You can't teach an old dog new tricks
What's good for the goose is good for the gander but One man's meat is another man's poison.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder but Out of sight, out of mind.
Too many cooks spoil the broth but Many hands make light work.
Hold fast to the words of your ancestors but Wise men make proverbs and fools repeat them.

There is no Garism like Plagiarism

2006-11-16T21:43:00.000-08:00

As many of our readers know I'm just getting into the whole bollywood music scene thanks to Ananya. I must admit that the songs of late are definitely more hummable then they were before - or is it just that I never really gave them a chance before? Either ways, one of the songs that I have been all praise is from Woh Lamhe called Kya Mujhe Pyar Hain. In fact the background music for our entire Mauritius holiday video is that song. Then I found this:

The song is from the soundtrack of a Malay movie called Alexandra, and is performed by a rather popular Malaysian band called Peter Pan. Here is the ripped off copy:

There is a fine line between being inspired and blatant copying. Quite clearly the music director has fallen over the precipice. I have nothing against remakes - just when there is no credit given to the original. I guess inspiration comes cheap now a days. On to the next hit.

When the Bodybags come Home

2006-11-03T00:28:00.000-08:00

Oasis Unplugged

2006-10-10T21:27:00.000-07:00

Britpop giants Oasis were due to play for the MTV Unplugged show at the Royal Festival Hall on August 23, 1996, but at the 11th hour lead singer Liam Gallagher pulled out, citing a sore throat. Main songwriter and guitarist Noel Gallagher then took over for vocals and sang for every song during the concert. Liam watched the performance from a balcony with cold beer and cigarettes and openly mocked the group.

For me this is Noel at his best. I have searched far and wide for the DVD of this performance but since the lead singer was not performing no official recording was ever made/released. I have a bootleg CD of the same, but not as much fun as watching the recording.

I finally found the unplugged performance on youtube - enjoy the best ever unplugged performance.

Part 1 : Hello, Some Might Say

Part 2 : Live Forever, The Masterplan

Part 3 : Don't Look back in Anger, Talk Tonight

Part 4 : Morning Glory, Round are Way

Part 5 : Cast No Shadow, Wonderwall

Notice the obvious reference to Liam (seated in the balcony) at the end of Round Are Way (from Up in the Sky):

Hey you! Up in the sky
Learning to fly
Tell me how high
Hey you! Up in a tree
You wanna be me
Hey you! wearing the crown
Making no sound
I heard you feel down
Hey you! Stealing the light
I heard that the shine's
Gone out of your life.