Archive for June, 2009
Posted by girisopinion on June 30, 2009
Airtel super singer junior’s season two began yesterday and the schedule in the USA seems to be in sync with India this time. This week it’s just a fun round with the last year’s junior contestants going against the best from 2008 Airtel super singer seniors.
It’s a great thing for the super singer fans that the junior version begins just 2-3 weeks after the 2008 competition ended. So this gives us nice filler and also a chance to see the kid talent of Tamil Nadu before the Airtel Super Singer 2009 begins again later this year.
From the next week onwards we are going to see the auditions starting first with Coimbatore. I will be watching it for sure as yesterday I got a glimpse of how the last year’s juniors were. The two kids who sang were brilliant and were really confident on stage. Mahati and Anitha were the judges and we had Ajeesh and Raghini competing yesterday with the two kids. The hosts were Malini and Yugendran as usual.
I am waiting for the main competition to begin as its going to be a fun few months with the best kid talent on view. Vijay TV talent shows are the best and it has become a trendsetter for the other channels to follow.
Posted in Airtel Super Singer, Entertainment, General, Movies, Music, Reality Show, Super Singer, Television | Tagged: Raghini, Vijay TV, Ajeesh, Airtel Super Singer, Yugendran, Malini, Mahathi, Airtel Super Singer Junior 2009, Anitha | Leave a Comment »
Posted by girisopinion on June 19, 2009
Well it’s a typical Friday morning at work, lot of empty seats, lots of free parking spaces and yes lots of OOO (Out Of Office) messages. I have been working here in the US for the past four years and this is my second client location and some things remain the same. The current client I work for is a giant corporation and is spread across the US.
I work for a typical “Desi” company where billing is everything. I have been amazed by the type of OOO emails we get at the client location. This morning my lead sent an email stating that since it was too nice outside and he wants to work on his yard. This was funny as working in an Indian company you would never even think of giving such a reason.
I work in a company where my manager told me that I shouldn’t take a day off when I was really sick. He said that having cold and fever is not a good enough reason to take a day off. Even though I was angry at that point when I think back it was really funny. That’s the difference between an Indian firm and an American firm.
I have seen so many different vacation emails with reasons such as “I am playing golf tomorrow”, “I am working on my Yard tomorrow”, “I have to collect Fedex package” and many others which will seem ridiculous to us coming from India. In India the only valid reasons for vacation or a day’s leave can be health or functions.
For us consultants at a client place it’s just a dream to be able to give such reasons for taking a leave. It will not be received that well from the managers of my parent company. Well even though I may never be able to work on my yard on a sunny day during a working day, the reasons for leave here in the US never ceases to amaze me.
Posted in Entertainment, General, General Lunch Time talk | Tagged: America, Client, Consultants, Desi, Friday, India, IT, Leave, US, vacation | Leave a Comment »
Posted by girisopinion on June 18, 2009
Dhoni will be aware that the series against the WI is one of the most important in his captaincy career
Now that T20 WC is done and dusted, it’s time for India to fly down to the Caribbean for a 4 match ODI series. The team announced is sans Sachin, Sehwag, Zaheer and Pathan and is quite an inexperienced one. Ashish Nehra gets a call back to the Indian team due to his fine performances in the IPL and Abhishek Nayyar is the only new face in the squad.
The Indian team will directly fly over to the WI from London on the 21st. It will be a different experience for Dhoni who has hardly put a foot wrong during his tenure as a captain of the national side. The failure in the T20 WC is going to hurt for sure but calls to drop him is little premature I think. Dhoni is an excellent leader and India is still the third best team in 50 over and Test formats.
Even though the team is less on confidence we should beat the WI even with this depleted team. The bowling will be spearheaded by Ishant and Harbajan and the batting by Dhoni and Yuvi. Ghambir I guess will do fine in the 50 over format as he was in reasonable form in the T20 WC. Rohit Sharma also will be a key player in the team.
Dropping Irfan Pathan was a bad decision I feel as he is the only other player to have toured WI before. Nehra has been there too and so has Harbajan, so the Indian bowling will do fine but it’s the batting which will be a major worry for the Indians. Irfan could have solved that issue coming in at no 7 as he is a very good bat and a decent bowler at the start. In the absence of Zaheer, he would have been a good bowler to have in the squad.
I hope that the experiment with Rohit opening the bat will end after the T20 WC and someone like Vijay can join Ghambir at the top. Rohit can come at number 4 and Raina can bat at number 3. The Indian captain though would want to come back to his aggressive best. It will be a test of character for the Indian captain as this will show how well he can handle the pressure.
Winning this series will be of utmost importance for the team as this will also propel us closer to the top spot in the ODI rankings. In a way it’s a good thing that India isn’t flying back home after the T20 debacle but on the flip side, watching the other teams battling for the title cannot be good either. Anyways this series will be an important one for the Indians and I hope that we win.
The team has been great over the past one year or so and I hope that we bounce back the same way we did after the 2007 WC.
Posted in Cricket, Cricket and Sports, ODI | Tagged: Caribbean, Cricket, Dhoni, Ghambir, Harbajan, ICC T20, India, Vijay, WC 2007, WI, Yuvi | Leave a Comment »
Posted by girisopinion on June 16, 2009
India crashed out of the World T20 this Sunday after they lost to England by 3 runs at Lords. Needing 154 to win, the Indian batsmen made 150/5 to lose the game to England. The Indian top order was found out by the WI pace bowlers in the previous game when they bowled short pitched stuff to Rohit, Ghambir and Raina who looked unsettled against the same.
England used the same tactics and was successful again. I know that there was only a day between the two matches but why didn’t Indian coach and captain find a way to counter it. It was a given that the English bowlers would try the short pitched stuff again. The overall captaincy of Dhoni in the World T20 was strange and sometimes hard to understand. He made too many tactical errors which cost India at crucial times.
First of all Yuvraj being the senior member in the team, should have always batted at number 4. I don’t understand why you need to hide a batsman who is the best in the side and could have made the English bowlers nervous. Sending Jadeja ahead of Yuvraj was baffling to me.
The other striking error was not bowling RP Singh at the death. RP Singh replaced Irfan Pathan for this crucial game and bowled a brilliant first spell just giving away 13 runs in his first 3 overs for the wicket of Luke Wright but still Dhoni decided to bowl Ishant and Zaheer who were more expensive. It’s a known fact that Ishant is not a good bowler at the death but RP Singh is. Ishant and Zaheer went for too many runs in the end giving England an easy passage to 150 when they had no chances of getting there at one stage.
England scored 53 runs in the last 5 overs and they did not have to take any risks. Harbajan bowled 2 wides which went for 4 and that too in the crucial last over when the first 5 balls had only yielded 2 runs and a wicket. The only thing Bajji had to do it to bowl straight and India would have won the game. The extra 5 runs given pushed the score beyond 150.
Overall the batting and the bowling in the campaign for India was too inconsistent to say the least. Well all in all it was a pathetic performance and India for sure will be hurt by this. The next series will commence pretty soon against the WI where we play 4 ODI’s and hopefully we can do well. The Indian youngsters need to work hard against the short pitched bowling as WI has a good pace attack.
It seems like Sachin might not go to WI which will be a huge blow to the Indian chances. Sehwag might come back to the side which will boost the top order and I hope that we get back Sreesanth in the team along with Munaf. WI pitches are slow and low and we need bowlers with pace in the team. Zaheer might also not play in the series due to injury.
India plays SA later today in their final game of the ICC WorldT20 and they have nothing at stake but the pride. I am sure that Dhoni and his men would want to end the tournament with a win which will give them some confidence ahead of the WI tour.
Posted in Cricket, Cricket and Sports, General | Tagged: Dhoni, England, India, Jadeja, Munaf, SA, Sachin, Sehwag, Sreesanth, WI, World T20, Zaheer | Leave a Comment »
Posted by girisopinion on June 12, 2009
Leander and Mahesh a partnership which captured the imagination of Indian tennis lovers
For more than a decade, Leander and Mahesh have carried the Indian hopes on their shoulder and have delivered time and again. How long can they go on? When will we see the next generation kick in? We have seen that the Indian young players have never been up to the challenge yet. Players like Bopanna, Prakash Amritraj, Harsh Mankad and quite a lot of young tennis players came on the scene and have disappeared.
Yeah they do play in the doubles scene in the Grand Slams once in a while but have never done anything of note. Sania Mirza too, India’s major hope for a top 10 player has been so inconsistent and injury prone. The dream of her reaching the top 10 seems far and distant. Tennis is a very expensive game and it’s not easy in India to take it up as a career.
It was about 8 years back when I saw an interview of Leander in Harsha Online in the ESPN where he spoke about the hardships he and Mahesh had to go through to come to this level. Eight years after they are the ones still carrying Indian dreams in the Grand slams. Recently the Indian tennis scene received an incredible boost with Yuki Bhambri who won the Australian open juniors and Somdev Devvarman who reached the business end of the Chennai open.
We will have to wait and see if these two take over the mantle from these two legends but the chances are bright. I had huge hopes for Prakash Amritraj as he was coached in the US and his father was the last Indian player to consistently challenge the top players during his time, but he has been disappointing.
India needs a top tennis player, need an idol to follow after Leander and Mahesh decide to call it a day. I just hope that these youngsters step up to the plate and deliver. Indian tennis scene has never looked so promising and I hope that these youngsters convert their good starts into something meaningful.
Till that happens the hope of an Indian tennis lover will continue to rest on Leander and Mahesh. It’s been an amazing 12-13 years since Mahesh became the first Indian to win a grand slam. They have more than 20 Grand Slam titles in doubles between them and it would have been fantastic if they had continued to play together. I salute the two legends of Indian tennis and their contribution towards the sport in India has been magnificent. Hope we find another Leander and Mahesh soon to carry on the mantle once they hang up their boots.
Posted in Cricket and Sports, General, tennis | Tagged: Bopanna, Grand Slam, Harsh Mankad, Leander, Mahesh, Prakash Amritraj, Sania Mirza, Somdev, tennis, Yuki Bhambri | Leave a Comment »
Posted by girisopinion on June 11, 2009
Airtel Super Singer top 6 (Before the Recall round) Top (From the left): Ranjani, Prasanna and Renu; Bottom (From the left): Rohit, Ajeesh and ravi
Well at last the Airtel Super Singer winner was declared yesterday here in the US after almost a year of the competition. The week began with Prasanna being eliminated and the final three remaining were Renu, Ravi and Ajeesh to compete for the title. It was a really good run for Prasanna and he surely won many hearts with his entertaining performances.
Monday and Tuesday of the competition was basically a tribute to the top 22 contestants and awards were given to best performances in a particular genre. Ironically all the award winners were from the top 10, Santosh, Prasanna, Raghini, Vijay and Ranjani. Even though the others did not win any awards, it was nice to see all of them together in the Airtel super singer set for one last time.
Now coming to the actual finals which happened on Wednesday there were three contestants and it was good that the results were announced on the same day. I unfortunately was not aware of the change in timings and missed the entire performances of the contestants. I just saw the final song sung by Ravi which was from Dasavatharam.
Yuvan Shankar Raja was there along with other celebrity singers such as Chitra, Mahati, Karthik, Krish, Sunitha Sarathy and few others to grace the live event. Finally after few performances from the other super singer contestants the results were announced and Ajeesh was declared as the winner based on the viewer votes. Ravi came second and Renu ended up in the third position.
Personally I would have preferred Ravi to win the competition as he was a better all round singers but Ajeesh wasn’t too far behind. I am not that disappointed with the actual result as Ajeesh also has had a wonderful super singer 2008. Renu for me did not make the cut and I did not expect her to win the crown. I know that I have been really harsh on her in my previous articles but to be frank she did not possess the variety the other two brought to the table. She is a good singer but one dimensional but I think she will be successful in play back singing in the Sujatha mould.
Coming back to Ravi, he is a fantastic talent and has a great range. He has proven his caliber in western as well as folk and classical and would be very successful in the music industry. I wish him all success and hope to hear him sing in the movies.
So the Airtel Super singer 2008 winner was Ajeesh, a fantastic singer with a great voice. Had some issues with the open singing at the beginning of the competition but overcame the same with the help of the voice trainer Ananth I guess. Great future ahead as he is guaranteed a song in Yuvan’s music.
All in all it was an incredible journey which lasted for almost a year. I enjoyed watching the same and I hope that everyone following Airtel super singer had a blast too. I think next we have the super singer juniors and hope it’s also as entertaining as the senior version. Till then this is Giri signing off.
Posted in Airtel Super Singer, Entertainment, General, Movies, Music, Reality Show, Super Singer, Television | Tagged: Prasanna, Raghini, ravi, Renu, Rohit, Ranjani, Ajeesh, Vijay, Santosh, Yuvan Shankar raja, Airtel Super Singer 2008, Winner | 4 Comments »
Posted by girisopinion on June 8, 2009
Federer with the French Open trophy after his brilliant win on Sunday
It was one of the greatest days in the Tennis history when Roger Federer won the French Open title beating Soderling yesterday. This was the fourth successive finals for Roger in Roland Garros and it proved fourth time lucky for him. It was a brilliant performance and he really worked hard for this title.
When Nadal lost against Soderling in the fourth round the pressure on Roger doubled as now he was expected to win the title. He had couple of tough matches where he had to come from behind to reach the finals. Federer was emotional and graceful while accepting the trophy from Andre Agassi (The last player to win a career Grand Slam). His fluency in French was amazing as he did not require a translator to address the audience (An English translator would have been helpful though).
A fantastic player and a great ambassador for the sport, Roger Federer for me has put to rest the debate of him being the greatest of all time. Federer might have just won the French open but he also has played in three finals and one semi-final before this. Federer also equaled Pete Sampras’s record of 14 grand slam titles and also went on to complete a career Grand Slam which Sampras was never able to achieve.
Congratulations to the greatest champion all time and best of luck for him in the Wimbledon.
Posted in Cricket and Sports, tennis | Tagged: Andre Agassi, Federer, French Open, Grand Slam, Nadal, Roger federer, Soderling, Wimbledon | 1 Comment »
Posted by girisopinion on June 2, 2009
The first day of the round two began yesterday here in the US the show began with the elimination of one contestant who got the least votes after the round 1 of the finals. Surprisingly Ranjani was the one to receive the axe. Airtel super singer never ceases to amaze me. Ranjani is one of the best singers in Airtel super singer this year and I have told this numerous times that she is much better singer than Renu. In spite of that she got the lowest audience votes. I guess she isn’t a very popular singer among the viewers.
The fact that she received around 4 times less votes than the third placed Renu is hard to believe. Anyways the initial part of the show was a tribute to her and a much deserved one at that. All the other contestants spoke about her and Ranjani bowed off in style singing “Maiyya Maiyya” song from Guru. Good luck to Ranjani and I am sure that she will be singing in movies soon.
Prasanna was in the bottom two along with Ranjani and I heard that he is the one eliminated next week. Even though he is my favorite contestant, I don’t think that I can complain on his exit. Ranjani’s exit was more shocking than Prasanna’s. Well good luck to Prasanna as well as he was one of the most entertaining contestants in this show and won many hearts with his brilliant performances on stage. I am sure that he has a bright future in the music field as he has started learning music already.
Okay now coming back to yesterday’s competition, unfortunately I was just able to see the performances of Ajeesh and Ravi, the top two voted contestants from round 1. Both gave brilliant performances and especially Ravi’s performance was out of the world. He was able to get the entire audience involved and everyone enjoyed his performance. Ajeesh was also very good. He sang with an open voice and sounded very good.
I was not able to see both Prasanna and Renu’s performance yesterday as I had some issues with my internet but probably will try and catch the same on YouTube some time later. Anyways that ended the day one of the finals and it seems like the Airtel super singer will be crowned next week (This week in India). So that’s good news. At last the organizers have decided to end the competition. Best of luck to Ranjani who unfortunately got eliminated in round 2 and good luck to the other contestants.
Posted in Airtel Super Singer, Entertainment, General, Movies, Music, Reality Show, Television | Tagged: Airtel Super Singer, Ajeesh, Finals, Prasanna, Ranjani, ravi, Renu, Round 2 | Leave a Comment »
