Archive for the ‘General’ Category
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Kandhasamy hits theatres this Friday
Kandhasamy is set to hit the theaters this weekend after lots of postponements. The movie has been in the making for over 2 years now and it has generated lots of hype in the media and also among the public. Vikram’s last movie Bheema which also released after a huge delay in 2008 was a big dud at the box office. This movie is touted as the first super-hero movie in Tamil cinema and hopefully the director has justified the hype associated with the same.
As with lots of movies released in Tamil with big stars, this one also comes in with a huge budget. We just have to look at the money spent in the launch and audio release function to gauge the budget on the actual movie. Director Susi Ganesan has made some decent movies in the past such as Thiruttu Payale and Five Star but none as big as this. For Vikram this is an important movie and so is for Shreya. Even though Vikram is still popular with his fans, this movie can further enhance his status as a superstar in Tamil cinema. Shreya though has had a disaster at the box office since Sivaji as her movies such as ATM and Thoranai have been colossal flops. She would want Kandhasamy to resurrect her career in Kollywood.
The last time I saw such an attempt in Indian cinema was “Krish”. That movie came as a sequel to “Koi Mil Gaya” with Hrithik Roshan in the lead and was a disaster. Even though the movie itself was reasonably successful at the box office, it was a sad example of a super-hero movie. I hope that Kandhasamy doesn’t fall in the same category. Vikram though can be expected to give his all in his movies. By looking at the rushes and the trailers it seems like he has put in a lot of hard work and the production of the movie looks rich.
Kandhasamy is one of the most expected movie in the industry and the biggest one this year. I hope that it doesn’t disappoint the fans.
Love for the game
Posted on: August 13, 2009
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Kids playing cricket in India
I was like any other kid in India growing up in Chennai. Like most I was drawn to Cricket at a very young age. A wooden plank and a rubber ball and you are good to go. Cricket is one of the most inexpensive outdoor games anyone can play. For me as a kid I started playing the game even before I understood the rules. Even the harshest critic of the game now would have at least had a couple of hits during his younger days. I still remember the first time I watched any cricket match. It was India Vs Pakistan and Sachin Tendulkar smashed Mushtaq Ahmed for two consecutive sixes in Sharjah.
Since then I have been hooked on to this great game. Cricket has been a part of my life in one way or the other for almost 18 years now. I used to watch almost every game that India played, kept track of the records Sachin broke (I Still do) and played the game whenever possible. We even had a team in our locality in Chennai and we used to play some matches with random teams in the play grounds when we were young.
The playgrounds in Chennai during the weekends were an incredible sight. Starting at 6:00 AM in the mornings teams used to run to the grounds to catch a spot to play a match. The matches mostly will be fixed between two different teams and they will agree to play in a particular place at a particular time. It will mostly be a bet match. The money never used to be huge but still enough to keep the teams competitive.
It was fun and we also played our share of bet matches. We did not win too many games but it was great fun. On a Sunday, getting up early in the morning, assembling outside a team member’s house. Riding our bicycles to get to the ground to catch a good pitch to play our game used to be a thrilling experience at that age. We have had our share of losses but even though we played the game as hard as we can, we always had a hearty laugh about the game later when we met again in the evening.
I remember the first ever time my team had a tie and the first game we won. It’s all part of a memory I will always cherish. The game has been so close to my heart and has remained a passion. When I was a kid I always wanted to be involved with the sport. I used to think, even if I don’t make it as a player I would at least become a presenter or commentator or writer or even a statistician. Even though I could not achieve my goal and ended up as a software engineer, the game still lives close to my heart. The main reason I started blogging was due to my love for the sport.
Cricket is a game of extreme emotions and unlike other team sports it is played for a longer duration. In the other team sports you don’t have enough time to go through various emotions during a game. Cricket is a game where you can be happy a minute and shattered immediately after that.
I have learnt a lot from the game. It has taught me the virtues of life like patience, competitiveness, team spirit etc. Even though I hardly get to watch any games these days and mostly follow the scores online, I still try to keep in touch with the game. I write about the game whenever I get time.I still have a dream of reporting cricket for living in the future but that might not happen.
The game has been really close to my heart for all these years and will continue to be so throughout my life. I am not sure how involved I can be with the game in the future but I will always cherish the memories the game has given me till date.
Achamundu Achamundu is refreshing
Posted on: August 10, 2009
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Prasanna and Sneha in Achamundu Achamundu (Pic courtesy Indiaglitz)
I watched “Achamundu Achamundu” over the weekend and I felt that it was a refreshing way of movie making by Arun Vaidyanathan. The movie deals about a sensitive theme which is rarely touched in Indian films. So it was actually a brave attempt by Arun to take up such a subject and present it in a way which will not make the Indian audience uncomfortable. To be frank I am not a critic and I don’t want be one too. This is the first time I am writing about a movie on my blog.
The reason I wanted to write about this one is because of the close to reality presentation of our life in the US by the director. I was plainly irritated and frustrated by the way Bollywood has been depicting an NRI life on the screen in the past few years and I am happy that Arun Vaidyanathan has stuck close to reality. The interactions between the lead pair, Prasanna and Sneha were sweet and it reminds us of our day today life here in America.
The movie was a short one and except for the last 20 minutes or so there was not much action or any notable twists but the way the director moved the story along keeps us interested. After I finished watching the movie I was wondering how the director manages to make a 1 Hr 40 min movie with such a storyline which could have been a short film at best. The thing that works for Achamundu Achamundu is the realism. As a IT professional muself living in the US for the past 7 years, I could relate to the day to day activities of the lead pair in the movie.
The movie also deals with a subject that is rarely touched upon in Indian cinema. But the unfortunate thing for Arun will be that not many people will actually understand what John Shea’s character in the movie is in India. The educated audience might get the hang of it but I would feel that most of the Tamil audience might assume him to be a kidnapper at the best. Until the movie ends and the paper clippings are shown there might be a small confusion for the common man in India.
But as far as I am concerned the movie was fantastic. It kept me glued for the duration and even though the climax was rushed and finished abruptly the overall effort was commendable. Prasanna and Sneha performed brilliantly and gave a very subtle performance. Prasanna as an IT professional was convincing and so was Sneha as a house wife in the US. Arun couldn’t have picked a more appropriate cast for the movie.
The rest of the caste was adequate. John Shea as a child molester was wooden at most times but was adequate and so was the guy playing Prasanna’s friend. The girl who acted as the lead pair’s daughter was very good as a kid brought up in the US. The way Sneha keeps reminding her kid to talk in Tamil was sweet and reminds me of lots of parents here in the US who want their kids to stay in touch with their roots. The subtle things like that have made this movie different from the other NRI based movies.
All in all it was a wonderful effort and kudos to everyone who were involved in making this movie. I hope that Arun Vaidyanathan goes from strength to strength after this one and gets the right break he so richly deserves. As far as Prasanna and Sneha are concerned, they have once again proved that they are the two most natural actors in Tamil cinema.
Pitch dark at 9:00 AM
Posted on: August 4, 2009
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It was routine day at work. I was sitting at my desk and doing my work and suddenly my friend pings me on the IM and asks “Did you look outside?” and I was like “Why what happened?” and then he says “Its pitch dark outside”. I immediately turned back to take a look through the window and I could not see anything. I sit quite far away from the window and it was so dark outside that I was only seeing the reflection of the workplace in the glass. I left home at 7:45 AM and did not even get a hint of what I would be seeing an hour later.
I walked closer and looked outside and it was unbelievable. It was dark and raining and I have never seen something like this in my life. I couldnt believe that it was 9:00 AM in the morning.
Nature never ceases to amaze you, does it?
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Virat Kohli deserves an extended run in the Indian ODI squad
It was a fantastic performance from the Indian Emerging players as they beat the SA Emerging players in Australia to claim the trophy yesterday. The South African team was unbeaten till the finals and unfortunately they chocked like their National squad. For India though this was a sweet victory and players like Badrinath, Virat Kohli, Rahane, Tyagi and Mishra did very well during the course of the tournament.
Virat Kohli I guess has further proven his case as a promising player for India for the future. He should be playing in the Indian team often. He played brilliantly against M & M during India’s one-day series win against the SL last year and has not played in the X1 since. Rohit Sharma has been preferred over him in the middle order. I guess now is the time to give him a look in.
Rohit Sharma has had his chances and has consistently underperformed. During the recent WI tour he was completely out of place and did not score any runs. Rohit Sharma has been in the team since his 66 in the finals against the Aussies last year but since then he has struggled at the International level. Having talent alone shouldn’t guarantee a spot for anyone in the team.
Badrinath again is one of the players who have not got enough chances. He had couple of bad matches and he was discarded. That’s the reason I was unable to comprehend what Yusuf Pathan was saying about the squad being Chennai heavy. Chennai has just 3 players in the reckoning, Vijay, Badri and Karthik and two of them never get a chance in the X1. The underperforming players like Rohit and Irfan have got more chances than the 3 I have mentioned above.
Kohli with his brilliant performance in the Emerging players trophy has reminded the selectors that he is one of the best youngsters we have in the domestic set up. Kohli in alien conditions has scored over 400 runs at a healthy average of 50 with 2 hundreds, one of them coming in the finals. Even though Badrinath doesn’t have a great stat to boost his claim in this series, he did have some important knocks and has been performing consistently for Tamil Nadu. I hope that he does not become one of the other Tamil Nadu players before him who retired with lots of promise without getting a look in.
The other player to impress was Rahane who had a brilliant series too, finishing with the second highest run tally behind Kohli. Sudeep Tyagi ended up with most wickets in the series and Amit Mishra had a good series too. I hope that the selectors are taking a look at these performances. The media coverage has been really poor for this series considering that the national team hasn’t been playing over the past month or so.
Anyways great effort by the Indian probable’s and hopefully Kohli and Badri get their due in the coming months.
When I think back at my school days, the memories are not that pleasant. School days are the most important part of anybody’s life. School not only gives you education but in many ways teaches the way of life. A kid spends most of his time at School in a day. I was one of the kids who hated the thought of going to school. It’s unfortunate that I felt that way. Schools in India do not make life that easy for the kids.
Schools in India teach you lots of things other than providing education, competition, jealousy, frustration and hatred. India has one of the best curriculums in the world and one of the best basic educations but the implementation needs lot to be desired. The problem in India is that education is all about the marks and not the knowledge. The pressure on the students is enormous starting from a very early age.
Teachers don’t make life easy for the kids either. They punish, scream, humiliate and make life miserable for the kids who are not in their words “brilliant”. I never found a need to read someone’s marks out loud in front of the entire classroom. There was Botany teacher who actually hit the kids who failed with a cane when giving the papers. He not only did that for the kids who failed but also to someone who scored less than 50 (40 being the pass mark). Did he do that for the welfare of the kids? I will never know.
Some teachers are so predictable as at one point the kids are just resigned to the fact that this is what is going to happen if they don’t do something right. Some teachers get sadistic pleasure in punishing the kids. There was a teacher in my school who used to smile every time she hit someone. It was disgusting. I am not saying every teacher is like that but some of them are. The rage, the anger and the complete lack of rational thinking was something I noticed from some teachers during my school days.
I still remember the occasion when I was beaten and punished so badly for something I never did in the first place. This happened when my entire class was getting punished and we were asked to go to the school ground and run a couple of laps as a punishment. I had braces in my teeth at that time and I had the habit of touching my mouth all the times as it can be really painful. Our vice-principal at that time caught hold of me and started hitting me like anything thinking that I was covering my laugh. He never listened to what I had to say and made me kneel down entire day in front of my class.
My friends knew that I do that all the time but even if I had laughed, did I deserve such extreme punishment? I am not sure but few people might think I did. But I always felt that no one has to hit a kid to teach him/her a lesson. Well later that week I went over to his office to get permission to take a day off to meet my dentist and he realized his mistake and apologized to me, but I felt the damage was done. I guess there is something about few teachers in India which makes them a scary image for the students. They get angry easily and if they do, then only god can save the kids. Sometimes it feels like the teachers are like a volcano ready to erupt. They try to vent out all their frustration and anger at the first opportunity they get and unfortunately the students bear the brunt. Punishment can be without being physical and still be effective. It’s almost as if we learn as a kid that hitting someone is okay if they have done something wrong. That is hardly a good example for the kids to follow.
Teachers I feel need to be an inspiration for the kids, the people we look up to for knowledge and guidance. They need not be friends with the kids but have to be the people whom the kids respect. I felt that a good teacher always gets a better result from the kids. I have been out of school for about 12 years now and still when I think back I hardly have any pleasant memories from my days there. My father was a Bank employee and we had to move around a lot and for some reason I had same experiences throughout my school life wherever I was.
I don’t think that things have changed much in India as an 11 year old died after being punished by a teacher at school recently. This is atrocious and I hope that the authorities put to end such corporal punishments. School is not the place for someone to show their personal frustrations and anger. This is an unfortunate incident and my sympathies and prayers are with the beleaguered parents. I hope that parents take the kids seriously when they complain of abuse by the teacher and don’t ignore such things.
As far as I am concerned it doesn’t have to be that way. I was an average student at school, went through the system as a back bencher but did okay in the long run. I wouldn’t credit anyone other than my parents and the society we grow in for my success. Education is an important part of a person’s life and it doesn’t have to be a painful experience for kids.
Teachers are the important cogs in the wheel of our educational system and they can make learning a memorable experience for the kids. I am not against schools and obviously not against education but school shouldn’t be a place where the kids are scared to go. Teachers need a way to punish kids who are unruly but physical punishment isn’t an answer to it. Parents also need to get more involved in this process. If a child complains of a beating they have to confront the teacher and ask him/her whether they can help avoiding such things in the future. They have to realize that it’s not always the kids fault.
Attacked by a Crow
Posted on: July 16, 2009
Crows are very prevalent in Chennai, the city in India where I come from
I was in the 6th standard when this weird incident happened. We were at that time living in Royapettah, Chennai in a two storied building. We had a huge terrace where I used to spend lots of time. Most of the times playing with my friends but sometimes I just preferred to hang out up there as it was one of the tallest buildings in the street.
So one evening my cousin and I decided to go upstairs and play some cricket and as usual the ball was hit outside onto the road. So I decided to go and see where the ball fell and that’s the time this happened. There was a huge tree right in front of our house and its branches came up to our terrace. So when I leaned over to take a look suddenly from nowhere this crow flies and hits my head. I was shocked at first and then thought that it was just an accident as there was a nest close to where I was standing, so I thought that I was just on the of the bird’s flight path.
It was no big deal and we went down and picked up the ball and went back home. The next day I was leaving to school in the afternoon walking down the stairs and again this crow from nowhere flies and hits my head once again. Now I realized that it was not an accident and the crow was really trying to harm me. That terrified me and at that age I couldn’t make out why. I was so terrified walking down the stairs that our house maid had to walk me down every time I left to school.
This happened one more time to me and after that the only time I was confident walking down the stairs alone was after dark. This went on for few weeks and one day while I was at school my aunt came home to visit us and the crow for some reason decided to attack her and this time it was serious as the crow’s beak made contact with her forehead and she started bleeding. That did it for everyone, the people around the house decide to end this and took the Crow’s nest from the tree and put it somewhere else. That stopped the crow attack forever.
When I came home and heard this, I was sorry for my aunt but was relieved that they had moved the nest from the tree. It is funny, come to think of it now as to how a crow terrified me like anything at that time. At that time I couldn’t figure out why the bird would do such a thing but when I think about it now, I feel that it was just trying to protect its nest. When I leaned over to look for the ball I was close to the nest of the bird which probably made the bird think that I was trying to harm it for some reason.
Well anyways whatever may be the reason it was such a weird incident and one which I could never forget. Anyways at that age I was relieved that I could walk down the stairs again with confidence and without fear. I guess the bird just acted out of fear at that point but a funny story nonetheless.
After 2 games both teams are tied with a win each and WI has looked better than the jaded Indian team. The Indian batting except for Dhoni and Yuvraj has struggled since the World T20. The pathetic show by the Indian top order on the World T20 seems to be continuing in the series against the WI too. If not for the brilliance of Yuvraj in the first game the Indians would have been 2-0 by now.
As Dhoni rightly pointed out after the loss in the second ODI, the Indian youngsters need to play with more responsibility. They cannot walk in to bat with the mindset of swinging their willows around. It does not work that way all the time. The Indian youngsters have also been badly scarred by what happened in T20 with the bouncer barrage by the WI and the English team. It seems like they have completely lost their plot.
I guess along with the coach they have to sit and work out a plan to counter the WI tactics of bouncing the Indian youngsters. As far as the team selection goes for the final two ODI’s, Jadeja has to definitely go and make way for either Badrinath or Vijay in the X1. Jadeja has struggled and cannot score a run if his life depended on it at the moment. I guess bringing in Vijay or Badri will give more solidity to the top order. Dhoni should be worried about the bowling as well. I know that 188 was not a great target to defend on that pitch but the bowling was not that great. Ishant has looked bad for a while now and Zaheer is still recovering from injury and was not that effective in the T20 WC.
I guess the argument that the players were tired doesn’t apply to RP Singh and Nehra who haven’t played much international cricket over the last one year. Yes they both played in the IPL but still that was just a month of cricket. Indian bowling has been toothless against the WI and the fielding shoddy. Lots of mistakes committed on the field and lots of extras by the pacers and the spinners alike. I don’t understand why Bajji and Pathan bowl so many wides and most of the times its 5 wides.
There were lots of theories as to why we lost so badly in the World T20 but mine is that the bowling wasn’t that disciplined as they should have been. If you see in the crucial game against England Bajji bowled 2 wides which went for fours in the last 2 overs which were probably the only big scoring deliveries in the last few overs. The English batsmen were struggling to score runs of Bajji but for those two wides. India eventually lost by 3 runs and those were 10 runs proved costly.
Anyways with just two games to go and the series on the line, Dhoni has some harsh decisions to take and choose the right combination from the available 16. Hopefully India manage to win the series and come back at least with their pride intact.
Airtel Super Singer Junior begins
Posted 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.
girisopinion
My Thoughts 
Too much hype for the Ashes
Posted by: girisopinion on: July 15, 2009
The Ashes Urn
The Ashes 2009 is currently going on and the first test at Cardiff just ended last weekend. The series is just 1 test old and the hype surrounding this one is unbelievable. I can’t believe that this is a follow up to the 2006/07 series where England lost 5-0. I guess the English have selective amnesia as they have completely bypassed that series in between almost making everyone feel that this series is right after the 2005 one. I have been following this series for the last 15 years or so, not because I have a favorite team but just for the love of the sport. Since the time I started seeing the Ashes it’s always been a one sided contest. Yes there was one great series in 2005 but that’s about it. I did not watch the 1986-87 series and the one before that when England had won the Ashes back to back. But since then it has been just a one-way traffic.
While the British media blows this series up out of proportion, one can’t stop thinking, is it really this big? Yes probably for the English and the Australians but to call this as a series for which the entire world is waiting for is bit of a stretch. To be frank for the last 2 decades England have been a mediocre team except for the one which played in the 2005 Ashes. The English media is generating all this hype for the current series from England’s 2005 ashes win, meanwhile completely ignoring the 5-0 bashing which they received in 2006/07.
I recently saw few of the SKY commentators calling the Ashes as the definition of test cricket, yes I agree but for only England and Australian supporters and not for the entire cricketing world. For the others, it’s just another cricketing series between two teams. As far as I am concerned the Ashes has been too one-sided over the years to be called a great competition. Australians have been too strong for the English teams of the past with the likes of McGrath’s and Warne’s in their team.
The current Ashes series though can be called as a series between two even sides. The contest becomes even only because England are playing at home. The over hype for the series is sometimes hard to take. Yeah I agree that this is one of the oldest series in the history of the game but that doesn’t automatically make it a great series, does it? Since 1989 until 2005 both these teams have played 43 times and England has just won 7 and the Australians 28 with 8 drawn games.
The 2005 series was great and England played brilliantly to win a close series to claim the ashes almost after 2 decades. In spite of that it still remains 34-9 to the Aussies since 1989. The series was great prior to 1989 as the teams were close, the games were even, the head to head more close 87-86 to the Aussies but since then it has been one-sided. Even though this will remain as one of the oldest and historic series in the cricketing circles, it is hardly a great contest anymore. The English probably would like to believe that the entire world is waiting with bated breath for this contest but that’s not true.
Yes I agree that we do watch it and enjoy the series but same as any other contest. I think that the English always want to hold on to their history and would want to believe some things are more important to others than it actually is but that’s not the case with the ashes. The Ashes is equally important to the Australians but you will see that once the series is over they will start concentrating on their next assignment and you will not see any Aussie talking about the Ashes until they meet again for the trophy. The English though live for the series, so it seems. Once the series is over they keep thinking about the next one, meanwhile ignoring the series in between.
English media by talking all the time about the 2005 series is trying to make this current series bigger than it actually is. This series will be good but will never attain the greatness of the 2005 series as the Aussies are a young team and no matter what people say England an ordinary team. I will be following this series for sure but I don’t think that this particular series deserves the hype it has got.