In the last few days I have been one of the few skeptics of IPL who have felt that the viewers are exposed to an overdose of 20-20 cricket. Once the IPL is over then we have the 20-20 world cup in England. But seeing yesterday's match between Rajasthan Royals (RRs) and Kolkatta Knight Riders (KKRs)I don't think anybody will complain if we can get such terrific entertainment at least on a weekly basis.
Let me be frank with you. I am the biggest Shane Warne fan. Probably one of the few bowlers I can watch bowling over after over, day after day, match after match and series after series...(Others being Akram, Saqlain (provided he is landing his doosras right on the money), Flintoff, Ambrose etc..I am sure there will be others but I'll keep that for another day. The point is that even though I have seen his horrible debut against India (read Shastri and Tendulkar) and again the thrashing he has received in 1998-99 and other on "nightmarish" tours to India, he has still done enough (at least in my mind)to make him my favourite cricketer (ok..along with Sachin..today is his bday..thats my gift to him..:)). Who can forget his "ball of the century" to Gatting, the ball of this century to Strauss, the demolition of West Indies in 1996 semi final, heroics in 99 semi final where he got Australia out from a near death situation, and then crushing Pakistan's hopes in the final (please note that sub-continent teams are supposed to be adept against quality spin bowling). His heroics in Ashes and against South Africa where he made many bunnies apart from just Cullinan..:)
But his off the field antics have always got him in a lot of controversy. The only thing probably better than his "leg-break" is his skill in "sexting". The use of some banned substance before the 2003 world cup got him a ban for a year. All this infamous heroics costed him the captaincy of Australia. Seeing his intensity last night I cant imagine what Australia would have been under him. The score of 150 which they were defending was a below par score seeing the scarce bowling resources RRs have except Warne of course. But every ball bowled was sent with an intent. Every bowler (leave Munaf for the time being as I don't see him being part of the team for long..i think he is a robot Mcgrath or a zabardasti ka Mcgrath or whatever..)Warne's confidence in Kamran Khan was more than the young lad would have had in himself. I am sure yesterday could be the defining day in this fast bowler's career..His last over where he conceded just 7 runs was top draw...although KKR was trying all ways to commit harakiri. even in the super over he just conceded 15 runs which in that context was not bad. The important thing was that he didn't give Gayle any elevation to hit the ball out of the park. And then Yousuf came and smashed 16 runs in just 4 balls.
While Warne displayed that he was a captain who was constantly thinking on his feet Mcullum just went with Mendis because he had been good in his bowling spell earlier in the day. But Yousuf just murdered the poor bowler and the hopes of KKR and its fans vanished with those towering hits.
In all this we should not forget the contribution of Warne. He took the wicket of Gayle when he was going berserk and dealing in just 6's. Then in his last over tempted the young Yashpal singh with his flighted, outside the off stump, loopy, sexy, unplayable, the undoing of hundreds of batsmen, ripping leg break. (readers are invited to add more adjectives..:)) We might blame Yashpal for getting carried away but Warne has done this to everybody. He had done this in the previous match to Virat Kohli and Akhil. and he will do this to countless more batsmen who will face him till he decides to hang his boots..But he is already becoming a master in poker and i think even there he will easily bamboozle his rivals like he has been doing for the last 18-20 years.
Shane Warne .......Take a Bow
PS. I wanted to know who was the "fake player" and was watching the match intently. and suspiciously looking at every KKR player..As i write right now the anonymous blogger has still not posted anything new after yesterday's match/ I hope the poor guys is not caught...although the devil in me thinks that all this blogging is an innovative idea by KKR to get publicity..remember the old maxim.."Any publicity is good publicity" and Sharukh definitely has the sense of humour and the wit to carry off a self deprecating spoof..........Om Shanti Om..:)
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
1-2 or 10-20 or 300-500
Like most other Mumbaikars I have a long commute to office which includes a taxi ride, pushy train journey and then finally to round it off an auto on the bumpy malad/ goregaon roads. The train is definitely the longest stretch of this journey and definitely the toughest but the more interesting as well as you get to see so many stories unfold in front of your eyes everyday.
Yesterday there was this old woman in the train who was begging for 10-20 rupees. The amount she was begging for caught my attention as generally beggars ask for 1-2 rupees. She was apparently collecting money as she had just had an operation for some cancer. Initially I was a little hesitant to give her money as I though it was just using this reason to get sympathy but after seeing some people sitting next to me donate generously, even I decided to give her some money..(for a cancer patient it was very little money but for a beggar collecting this amount from 20-30 people a day will translate into 300-500 rupees a day..)..
In the last few months while talking to some people who work with various NGO's in the city I had realised that the easiest way in which we try to help someone is by parting with a very little amount of money and then feeling as if we had changed the world. I thought ill did deeper and see if she was really genuine probably collect some money from friends and family to help her..OK these were just thoughts only and I confess I have never done anything like this before in my life so I am not sure if this thing would have worked but nevertheless I thought it was worth a try...
So while she was walking past me I asked her how she would be able to manage with these 10s and 20s for her unstable medical condition.....And then her look completely changed...She replied sarcastically people give me 100,200, 500 and more...Further she said I am waiting a big amount of money and this arrangement is just for the interim...But the looks in her eyes had now changed completely..She was looking at me angrily as if I had done a big mistake by asking her this question..By that time other people had also got suspicious of that woman. Somebody said that she was in the same train 2-3 months back collecting money and faking some other ailment. She got down at the next station. Probably sensing that there would be a barrage of questions for which she was not prepared..
As she left I had mixed feelings. I felt bad that i probably was the reason she cold not collect enough money for whatever reason she wanted to collect. On the other hand I felt good that I stopped her from fleecing the unsuspecting passengers..I felt incidents like these will harm the really needy people. When next time a needy person will come to me I will probably think twice before helping him..
I am unable to conclude this article....Suggestions are welcome .....
Yesterday there was this old woman in the train who was begging for 10-20 rupees. The amount she was begging for caught my attention as generally beggars ask for 1-2 rupees. She was apparently collecting money as she had just had an operation for some cancer. Initially I was a little hesitant to give her money as I though it was just using this reason to get sympathy but after seeing some people sitting next to me donate generously, even I decided to give her some money..(for a cancer patient it was very little money but for a beggar collecting this amount from 20-30 people a day will translate into 300-500 rupees a day..)..
In the last few months while talking to some people who work with various NGO's in the city I had realised that the easiest way in which we try to help someone is by parting with a very little amount of money and then feeling as if we had changed the world. I thought ill did deeper and see if she was really genuine probably collect some money from friends and family to help her..OK these were just thoughts only and I confess I have never done anything like this before in my life so I am not sure if this thing would have worked but nevertheless I thought it was worth a try...
So while she was walking past me I asked her how she would be able to manage with these 10s and 20s for her unstable medical condition.....And then her look completely changed...She replied sarcastically people give me 100,200, 500 and more...Further she said I am waiting a big amount of money and this arrangement is just for the interim...But the looks in her eyes had now changed completely..She was looking at me angrily as if I had done a big mistake by asking her this question..By that time other people had also got suspicious of that woman. Somebody said that she was in the same train 2-3 months back collecting money and faking some other ailment. She got down at the next station. Probably sensing that there would be a barrage of questions for which she was not prepared..
As she left I had mixed feelings. I felt bad that i probably was the reason she cold not collect enough money for whatever reason she wanted to collect. On the other hand I felt good that I stopped her from fleecing the unsuspecting passengers..I felt incidents like these will harm the really needy people. When next time a needy person will come to me I will probably think twice before helping him..
I am unable to conclude this article....Suggestions are welcome .....
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
The Gift of the Maggi
Maggi has been voted has India's most memorable brands. Well my association with Maggi is quite old. My earliest memories is of coming home after school and being rewarded with a maggi treat. But that's not the only memory I have in fact I learnt one of the biggest lessons in life indirectly through this iconic brand
In school we used to have the Maggi quiz. Me and my team mate Abhay were the runners up in class IV and had prepared really hard (but as we found out later not very smart) the following year. We had mugged up only countries, capitals and currencies but were quite a big zero in other things like world affairs. eg we did not know who was heading the Palestine Liberation Organisation..(for the uninitiated it was Yasser Araffat..)I think I had already announced to the world (my neighbours, colony friends, my mommy) that we are going to win and get gift hampers which would include school bags with maggi imprinted on them, watches and lots of ....guess what of course..... maggi..:)..So to cut a long story short we were quite overconfident that we will win the quiz.
Obviously we didn't win it. I think we came third and did not qualify for the next round. It was a long walk back home especially when you stay in one of the highest points in Simla. I did not know what to do. That evening I could not face anybody...
But I think I had learnt my lesson....
In school we used to have the Maggi quiz. Me and my team mate Abhay were the runners up in class IV and had prepared really hard (but as we found out later not very smart) the following year. We had mugged up only countries, capitals and currencies but were quite a big zero in other things like world affairs. eg we did not know who was heading the Palestine Liberation Organisation..(for the uninitiated it was Yasser Araffat..)I think I had already announced to the world (my neighbours, colony friends, my mommy) that we are going to win and get gift hampers which would include school bags with maggi imprinted on them, watches and lots of ....guess what of course..... maggi..:)..So to cut a long story short we were quite overconfident that we will win the quiz.
Obviously we didn't win it. I think we came third and did not qualify for the next round. It was a long walk back home especially when you stay in one of the highest points in Simla. I did not know what to do. That evening I could not face anybody...
But I think I had learnt my lesson....
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
The Only---Right Arm Fast
This is something that happened about a year back. And I can claim royalty from Vodafone as they have made an advertisement out of that wow moment (the lift add in which the girl sees a movie star besides her)
Well in our case, I was with my team mates Kapil, Payal and Rahul and gone to Hilton to meet the newly set up MS team. It was a good meeting and we were very excited after meeting such senior people who had loads of investment banking experience. In our excitement we took the wrong lift and instead of going down we went up for a couple of floors. And then the DOOR opened...
First two huge bodyguards marched inside. We were curious to see who was behind them. Then after a split second we saw a familiar face come inside. All of us looked at him and felt we had seen him somewhere and after a split second realised who he was......It was yes the only tear away fast bowler of our time ( I am sure this will invite criticism/ debate..but will ensure some traffic and comments on my blog which are most welcome.
Anyways enough of marketing, coming back to the lift in which there are 4 of us,two giant bodyguard and Rawalpindi express. When the lift began its downward journey me and rahul had exchanged glances to confirm that it was indeed the man himself. It was a divine moment for us probably like when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu or Tulsidas had seen god himself ( I am sure again this might upset some BJP supporters as I am calling a Pakistani fast bowler as God...OK then put your comments)..
For the 1st 5 seconds we were smitten we could not utter a word. I think Shoaib sensed the silence or maybe he was at his charming best or maybe he got distracted by Payal...:). He broke the ice and asked us "aap log kahaan se hain". After telling him that we are from Bombay only (No i didnt give him gyaan about Shimla and the fact that I had come to bombay for my rozi roti). Again there was silence as the lift was going further down. There was this tension building up inside me as I wanted to say something to him. Suddenly out of the blue I said to him. Congratulations ( it was for the fact that he had got a huge sum of money to join the Calcutta team for IPL). He acknowledged that and said "shukriya". He said he was happy to join Shahrukh's team and then he said quite unassumingly.."Bombay kyaa kar raha thaa..App logo ne kya team banayee hai.. All of us had a big laugh on that.
While we were warming up and getting ready to hurl some more questions (I am sure we could have carried on for hours) the lift came to a halt. We knew it was time to say bye bye. Shoaib walked into the lobby of the hotel and disappeared slowly into the crowd of elite businessman, travellers, corporate honchos etc etc...And we kept looking at each other. The purpose for which we had gone there was for the time being kept in the background.
It was a time to sit back and savour the moment...
Well in our case, I was with my team mates Kapil, Payal and Rahul and gone to Hilton to meet the newly set up MS team. It was a good meeting and we were very excited after meeting such senior people who had loads of investment banking experience. In our excitement we took the wrong lift and instead of going down we went up for a couple of floors. And then the DOOR opened...
First two huge bodyguards marched inside. We were curious to see who was behind them. Then after a split second we saw a familiar face come inside. All of us looked at him and felt we had seen him somewhere and after a split second realised who he was......It was yes the only tear away fast bowler of our time ( I am sure this will invite criticism/ debate..but will ensure some traffic and comments on my blog which are most welcome.
Anyways enough of marketing, coming back to the lift in which there are 4 of us,two giant bodyguard and Rawalpindi express. When the lift began its downward journey me and rahul had exchanged glances to confirm that it was indeed the man himself. It was a divine moment for us probably like when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu or Tulsidas had seen god himself ( I am sure again this might upset some BJP supporters as I am calling a Pakistani fast bowler as God...OK then put your comments)..
For the 1st 5 seconds we were smitten we could not utter a word. I think Shoaib sensed the silence or maybe he was at his charming best or maybe he got distracted by Payal...:). He broke the ice and asked us "aap log kahaan se hain". After telling him that we are from Bombay only (No i didnt give him gyaan about Shimla and the fact that I had come to bombay for my rozi roti). Again there was silence as the lift was going further down. There was this tension building up inside me as I wanted to say something to him. Suddenly out of the blue I said to him. Congratulations ( it was for the fact that he had got a huge sum of money to join the Calcutta team for IPL). He acknowledged that and said "shukriya". He said he was happy to join Shahrukh's team and then he said quite unassumingly.."Bombay kyaa kar raha thaa..App logo ne kya team banayee hai.. All of us had a big laugh on that.
While we were warming up and getting ready to hurl some more questions (I am sure we could have carried on for hours) the lift came to a halt. We knew it was time to say bye bye. Shoaib walked into the lobby of the hotel and disappeared slowly into the crowd of elite businessman, travellers, corporate honchos etc etc...And we kept looking at each other. The purpose for which we had gone there was for the time being kept in the background.
It was a time to sit back and savour the moment...
Monday, March 23, 2009
IPL- Indian Political League
Last year when the Indian Premier League started with a lot of fanfare, Lalit Modi was the toast of the nation. He was destiny's child who could do nothing wrong. He was rubbing his shoulders and god knows what else with the creme-de-la-creme of India's business and glamour circles.
The League which had started after a lot of politics and a knee jerk reaction to Subhash Chandra's ICL. While the IPL turned out to be a success due to the heady combination of cricket, glamour and power, ICL did not achieve much success due to lack of the above three ingredients. BCCI also has tried to kill competition by banning players involved with ICL and barring them from playing any form of official cricket.
But the tables have turned in less than 12 months. The UPA government is not confident that they can have such a big event at the time of the elections. My friends say the government is scared that if the Indian junta is watching 20-20 cricket then who will listen to their election manifestos. Crazy as they may be, the politicians still need drive their points, pointless as they may be.
The BJP accuses that the congress is targeting the IPL. They say that "a government, which cannot provide protection to 11 players, cannot be entrusted with the task of country’s security". My question is that if the congress had actually allowed the IPL to happen at this time then the same people would have alleged that the Congress is ignoring the security of the citizens of the country and compromising national security for commercial reasons. It is definitely a Catch-22 situation. But I am not defending anybody...Its just that we as a country have just got used to criticise others for everything, for any initiative or maybe politicising anything and everything. When the government can claim the success of Slumdog as their then Danny will definitely "Boil".
As of now when I am writing this article there is speculation that South Africa or England might be the alternative venues for this year. Whatever happens from here, one thing is for sure ...renaming IPL to the Indian Political League would not be such a bad idea..:)
The League which had started after a lot of politics and a knee jerk reaction to Subhash Chandra's ICL. While the IPL turned out to be a success due to the heady combination of cricket, glamour and power, ICL did not achieve much success due to lack of the above three ingredients. BCCI also has tried to kill competition by banning players involved with ICL and barring them from playing any form of official cricket.
But the tables have turned in less than 12 months. The UPA government is not confident that they can have such a big event at the time of the elections. My friends say the government is scared that if the Indian junta is watching 20-20 cricket then who will listen to their election manifestos. Crazy as they may be, the politicians still need drive their points, pointless as they may be.
The BJP accuses that the congress is targeting the IPL. They say that "a government, which cannot provide protection to 11 players, cannot be entrusted with the task of country’s security". My question is that if the congress had actually allowed the IPL to happen at this time then the same people would have alleged that the Congress is ignoring the security of the citizens of the country and compromising national security for commercial reasons. It is definitely a Catch-22 situation. But I am not defending anybody...Its just that we as a country have just got used to criticise others for everything, for any initiative or maybe politicising anything and everything. When the government can claim the success of Slumdog as their then Danny will definitely "Boil".
As of now when I am writing this article there is speculation that South Africa or England might be the alternative venues for this year. Whatever happens from here, one thing is for sure ...renaming IPL to the Indian Political League would not be such a bad idea..:)
Friday, March 20, 2009
Slapstick-1
Bhoot- Knock Knock...
Man- Abey Kaun Hai...Raat ko is time...Kal Aana
Bhoot- Abey saale roz bolta hai kal aane ko...aaj to main tera khoon pee ke hee jaaonga..
Man- Khoon to bhool jaa...fridge mein thanda doodh hai..chocos daal ke pee le...
Bhoot- Yeh accha idea has waise bhi kaafi garmee ho gayee hai..waise saath mein kuch khaane ko mil jaaye to fir maza aaaa jaaye..
(After the Bhoot finishes his milk)
Man- Yaar too roz idhar apnee marwaane kyon aa jaata hai..aur fir same dialogue maarta hai..."main tujhe khaa jaaonga.." jaa peehle kapil ka tiffin khatam kar..usme kaafi khaana rehta hai..
Bhoot- Yaar tum log meri izzat hee naheen karte..kyaa zamana aa gaya hai..hey bhagwaaan mujhe apne paas bula le....
Man-- Acha jaa rahe ho..ek kaam karna bahar se darwaaza band kar dena..warna tumhaare papa betaal ji naa aa jayeein..waise tum bhooton ke paas aajkal kuch kaam to naheen hai...jaake koi naukri kyon naheen kar lete..
Bhoot- Yeh lo mera cv...NAUKRI dhoondte dhoondte main MONSTER ban gaya hoon..yeh bhi koi zindagi hai...MONSTER pe bhi cv daala hai..woh to mere rishtedaar kee site hee hai..soch raha hoon entrepreneur ban jaaon...
Man- accha idea hai...Kya karoge...waise jab tuk kuch kaam naheen milta mere ghar kee safai kar do..waise bhi kaam waalee bai chutti pe hai..
Bhoot- thank u mere dost..tum ne mujhe sahara diya...ab main chalta hoon...Thank u for chocos and food...
To be continued....only on encouragement from readers..:)
Man- Abey Kaun Hai...Raat ko is time...Kal Aana
Bhoot- Abey saale roz bolta hai kal aane ko...aaj to main tera khoon pee ke hee jaaonga..
Man- Khoon to bhool jaa...fridge mein thanda doodh hai..chocos daal ke pee le...
Bhoot- Yeh accha idea has waise bhi kaafi garmee ho gayee hai..waise saath mein kuch khaane ko mil jaaye to fir maza aaaa jaaye..
(After the Bhoot finishes his milk)
Man- Yaar too roz idhar apnee marwaane kyon aa jaata hai..aur fir same dialogue maarta hai..."main tujhe khaa jaaonga.." jaa peehle kapil ka tiffin khatam kar..usme kaafi khaana rehta hai..
Bhoot- Yaar tum log meri izzat hee naheen karte..kyaa zamana aa gaya hai..hey bhagwaaan mujhe apne paas bula le....
Man-- Acha jaa rahe ho..ek kaam karna bahar se darwaaza band kar dena..warna tumhaare papa betaal ji naa aa jayeein..waise tum bhooton ke paas aajkal kuch kaam to naheen hai...jaake koi naukri kyon naheen kar lete..
Bhoot- Yeh lo mera cv...NAUKRI dhoondte dhoondte main MONSTER ban gaya hoon..yeh bhi koi zindagi hai...MONSTER pe bhi cv daala hai..woh to mere rishtedaar kee site hee hai..soch raha hoon entrepreneur ban jaaon...
Man- accha idea hai...Kya karoge...waise jab tuk kuch kaam naheen milta mere ghar kee safai kar do..waise bhi kaam waalee bai chutti pe hai..
Bhoot- thank u mere dost..tum ne mujhe sahara diya...ab main chalta hoon...Thank u for chocos and food...
To be continued....only on encouragement from readers..:)
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
TEAMing with Champions
At the time of writing this article the Indian team would be probably comfortably ensconced in their hotel in Hamilton....... The whole cricketing world is waiting eagerly to see whether India can actually take their forms in the shorter form of the game to the five day version. Even though on paper the teams are not matched at all but green turfs and India's dismal record evens up things ever so slightly..
The last one dayer exposed our team's weaknesses against the swinging deliveries. And if the New Zealanders stop their warm hospitality then tomorrow could be a hostile day for us. But then if NZ wins the toss and decides to bat then Zaheer and Ishant are themselves capable of routing NZ's in a session or two. Not to forget Bhajji who would be eager to fox the Kiwis not only with his doosra's and teesra's but also the new maa..ki's and behen..kis he would have added to his repertoire
If we are batting and Sehwag manages to bat for about 20-30 overs..it might just take the Kiwi's breath away for not just the day but maybe the series..And if he and Gambhir can actually stay till lunch then we all know only one team would be having their lunch..:)
If Sachin can overcome his injury and add another century or double to his overflowing account, it would be money well spent for the spectators in the ground and a good trade off for people in India who get up at 3 to watch the match.
If Dravid scores a Dravidesque century then he would have answered a lot of unnecessary questions which "We the Unforgiving People"....(sorry Barkha) have asked him in the last year. It would also tell the Kiwis that they need to climb the WALL to actually think of beating the Indians.
At this point of time I am actually thinking I have already counted so many match winners in the team. That's not enough...Yes because Yuvraj in any situation can murder a bowling attack and Kiwis would be hoping that he doesn't carry his dream form into the series. Yuvraj could be just dealing in 6s keeping in mind the size of the grounds..
And that brings me to the one man who I have consciously kept in the end...Its not an insult to him but its like the icing on the pudding..Whether you say luck, skill, charisma, leadership skills..MS Dhoni has everything in plenty..And if he gets his act together the Indian team could well climb to the #1 spot by the end of the series. What ever we say India just keeps winning under the guy and nobody can deny that. Ok he has a great team but then Ponting lost the ashes in 2005 when he had Mcgrath and Warne. So there is definitely some magic which Dhoni comes up with everytime we are in a spot of bother...
Lets hope Dhoni never runs out of his magic potion.........Cheers !!
The last one dayer exposed our team's weaknesses against the swinging deliveries. And if the New Zealanders stop their warm hospitality then tomorrow could be a hostile day for us. But then if NZ wins the toss and decides to bat then Zaheer and Ishant are themselves capable of routing NZ's in a session or two. Not to forget Bhajji who would be eager to fox the Kiwis not only with his doosra's and teesra's but also the new maa..ki's and behen..kis he would have added to his repertoire
If we are batting and Sehwag manages to bat for about 20-30 overs..it might just take the Kiwi's breath away for not just the day but maybe the series..And if he and Gambhir can actually stay till lunch then we all know only one team would be having their lunch..:)
If Sachin can overcome his injury and add another century or double to his overflowing account, it would be money well spent for the spectators in the ground and a good trade off for people in India who get up at 3 to watch the match.
If Dravid scores a Dravidesque century then he would have answered a lot of unnecessary questions which "We the Unforgiving People"....(sorry Barkha) have asked him in the last year. It would also tell the Kiwis that they need to climb the WALL to actually think of beating the Indians.
At this point of time I am actually thinking I have already counted so many match winners in the team. That's not enough...Yes because Yuvraj in any situation can murder a bowling attack and Kiwis would be hoping that he doesn't carry his dream form into the series. Yuvraj could be just dealing in 6s keeping in mind the size of the grounds..
And that brings me to the one man who I have consciously kept in the end...Its not an insult to him but its like the icing on the pudding..Whether you say luck, skill, charisma, leadership skills..MS Dhoni has everything in plenty..And if he gets his act together the Indian team could well climb to the #1 spot by the end of the series. What ever we say India just keeps winning under the guy and nobody can deny that. Ok he has a great team but then Ponting lost the ashes in 2005 when he had Mcgrath and Warne. So there is definitely some magic which Dhoni comes up with everytime we are in a spot of bother...
Lets hope Dhoni never runs out of his magic potion.........Cheers !!
Friday, March 13, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Sugar Free and Hot Chocolate Fudge
Well don't be confused by the above title. This just shows the economics of convenience which people like me have started practicing. While having coffee or I would insist on a sachet of sugar free but insist on the dollop of chocolate sauce or crazily have an ice cream for dessert. It just shows that most decisions in life these days we take as per our "convenience". While its ok to give some money to the beggar, we do not have the time to actually go and work at the grass root level and not even for a day..we say that we are keen sports lovers but the only physical sport we indulge in is switching channels between Star Cricket/ Sport/ ESPN and Neo..This was further proved yesterday when most of us celebrated a Diwali of 4s and 6s by Sehwag inside our living rooms when the whole world outside was with their Holy Guns..:) (yes the pun is definitely intended)
Most of us feel have actually started taking the maxim, "the pen is mightier than the sword" way too seriously. People feel by blogging and becoming social commentators they are going to change the world. And before anyone says look who's talking....I confess...am also stuck in the same rut. and I want to do something but dont know how..Any suggestions are welcome...
I want to write more but some other time..some slides to fill...wish they were beer mugs..:)Damn the weight watchers...
Most of us feel have actually started taking the maxim, "the pen is mightier than the sword" way too seriously. People feel by blogging and becoming social commentators they are going to change the world. And before anyone says look who's talking....I confess...am also stuck in the same rut. and I want to do something but dont know how..Any suggestions are welcome...
I want to write more but some other time..some slides to fill...wish they were beer mugs..:)Damn the weight watchers...
Monday, February 2, 2009
Roger...Tough Luck...By Chance
Consciously or unconsciously this blog of mine is becoming a diary of "How I spent my Weekend" which is generally by watching some cricket, a movie and cribbing about life...(in no particular order)...
This weekend was no different except that I was fortunate to watch the Rafa-Fedex rivalry reach new heights...But in the end the matador from Espaniol was too hot for the Swiss Ace..Roger to me has become error prone as he comes to terms with the reality that players are catching up with him.....
Last night at 10 o clock we decided to watch Luck by Chance and "by god kee kasam" we just about managed to get tickets...What followed in the next 2.5 hours was an amazing masterclass of creativity and narration that I have not seen before in cinema (keeping in mind my limited knowledge of the subject)..But I feel this movie is more a satire of the industry by Javed Akhtar and his gift to his children. I feel somebody so young and inexperienced like Zoya might not have enough experience to comment on the industry in such a masterly fashion..Anyways that is all in the family and who am I to spoil Zoya's party...But I thank Sumita for pushing me to watch the movie..
IN other enlightening experiences, I also learnt how important it is to have vitamin B-complex medicines with antibiotics otherwise an antibiotic for a throat infection can screw your stomach..
Anyways enough gyaan for the week...I will try to write more..but I am wondering how to make life more interesting so that I can write more..Dont know...??????//
This weekend was no different except that I was fortunate to watch the Rafa-Fedex rivalry reach new heights...But in the end the matador from Espaniol was too hot for the Swiss Ace..Roger to me has become error prone as he comes to terms with the reality that players are catching up with him.....
Last night at 10 o clock we decided to watch Luck by Chance and "by god kee kasam" we just about managed to get tickets...What followed in the next 2.5 hours was an amazing masterclass of creativity and narration that I have not seen before in cinema (keeping in mind my limited knowledge of the subject)..But I feel this movie is more a satire of the industry by Javed Akhtar and his gift to his children. I feel somebody so young and inexperienced like Zoya might not have enough experience to comment on the industry in such a masterly fashion..Anyways that is all in the family and who am I to spoil Zoya's party...But I thank Sumita for pushing me to watch the movie..
IN other enlightening experiences, I also learnt how important it is to have vitamin B-complex medicines with antibiotics otherwise an antibiotic for a throat infection can screw your stomach..
Anyways enough gyaan for the week...I will try to write more..but I am wondering how to make life more interesting so that I can write more..Dont know...??????//
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Wall Street to Slumdog to Malabar Hill
Last week I saw two movies which showed two very different perspectives of money. While in wall street bombarded me with the "Greed is Good" jingoism..Slumdog millionaire is at a totally opposite end of the money ladder...But the ultimate truth in both of them is how the lack of money or too much of it influences and shapes are lives..... Anyways the movie was damn good..very "filmy"....very bollywood..And AR rehman take a bow..
Read somewhere that the parents of the slum children who acted in the movie are complaining of not being paid adequately. Seems like the parents of these children are now feeling they have lost out on something big. Somehow I am getting a feeling the parents have realised the movie has become much bigger than what they had imagined and now want to be a part of the commercial success...:) And if u see from there perspective there is nothing wrong in that as if we take a hypothetical example of a person X working in a small start up. If the start up becomes really successful that person would also want a bigger share of the pie.. so I think these kind of issues are quite normal and as long as there will be human beings these issues will arise...
Finally the highlight of my weekend was my meeting with Mr. Kharas...my former landlord who although didnt recognise me (he is 90 years old)..but then just seeing him sitting on his bed..dressed in a cool T-shirt..as if he was still ready to work with the TATAs.. was something which gave me a lot of happiness...and when i shook hands with him..he said to me..." u take care"..I would like to believe that in that moment he did remember me..someone who used to share a drink and a smoke with him..especially on the day of the Parsi new Year...along with some Dhansak..I still remember how he would go on and on about how his children were the toppers in everything..like all our parents do..but then it was also disturbing to see that nobody was living with him in this stage of life..Yet he was so proud of them that he would repeat the story for all of those two months I was there...
Read somewhere that the parents of the slum children who acted in the movie are complaining of not being paid adequately. Seems like the parents of these children are now feeling they have lost out on something big. Somehow I am getting a feeling the parents have realised the movie has become much bigger than what they had imagined and now want to be a part of the commercial success...:) And if u see from there perspective there is nothing wrong in that as if we take a hypothetical example of a person X working in a small start up. If the start up becomes really successful that person would also want a bigger share of the pie.. so I think these kind of issues are quite normal and as long as there will be human beings these issues will arise...
Finally the highlight of my weekend was my meeting with Mr. Kharas...my former landlord who although didnt recognise me (he is 90 years old)..but then just seeing him sitting on his bed..dressed in a cool T-shirt..as if he was still ready to work with the TATAs.. was something which gave me a lot of happiness...and when i shook hands with him..he said to me..." u take care"..I would like to believe that in that moment he did remember me..someone who used to share a drink and a smoke with him..especially on the day of the Parsi new Year...along with some Dhansak..I still remember how he would go on and on about how his children were the toppers in everything..like all our parents do..but then it was also disturbing to see that nobody was living with him in this stage of life..Yet he was so proud of them that he would repeat the story for all of those two months I was there...
Thursday, January 22, 2009
COUGHy with Gaurav
Sorry for not writing for quite some time...just too much happening..or maybe.just nothing happening to pen down my thoughts...just trying to figure out the next steps...
2009 has started and already we are almost a month down...i am seeing so many more confused faces....Raju's ASATYAM..has not helped matters...people are trying to hold on to what they have..
Waiting for better times...and also Slumdog Millionaire..which releases tomorrow..:)
Its the movie of "hope" and in these trying times there cant be too much of it.
2009 has started and already we are almost a month down...i am seeing so many more confused faces....Raju's ASATYAM..has not helped matters...people are trying to hold on to what they have..
Waiting for better times...and also Slumdog Millionaire..which releases tomorrow..:)
Its the movie of "hope" and in these trying times there cant be too much of it.
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