Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Young Gun


I was watching Mad Max today evening.....

Ever watched the Aussie movie? The apocalyptic trilogy that catapulted Mel Gibson and Australian movies to international fame?

How different Mel Gibson looks. And acting? or I should say the lack of it?

The movie is set in future when anarchy sets in and a street war for gasoline is raging... Max is an interceptor of a what is left in a law enforcement agency. He loses his best pal and his family to a gang of bikers out on the road. And naturally he avenges the deaths brutally.

Watch the movie just to see a different Gibson. Gibson minus the desperate looks, numerous wrinkles and that ' I know all smile'. But there is absolutely nothing for him to perform. And the chases are also filmed superbly.

Legal Thrills


Last day I finished reading John Grisham's The Pelican Brief....


It is the first novel I read fully in digital format, as a Word file... and it is tiring... Your eyes feel exhausted and it is boring to read a novel in sitting position. May be I am reading one like that after years. But the novel is good.


This is my third novel by Grisham. First one was The Runaway Jury, which dealt with the dilemma of juries assigned to a tobacco litigation case. It was slow paced, but engrossing and had a superb climax... some thing that most popular novels lack... Many novels like Digital Fortress by Dan Brown, Ambler Warning and Sigma Protocol by Ludlum had a very lack lustre climax even though it progress in a very good way. Runaway Jury was good.


Next Grisham novel that I read was The Firm, that dealt with the dilemma of an advocate who gets trapped in a huge legal firm that serves bad guys. That was also a fine novel. But devoid of much details and information.


About Pelican Brief, it is a story about the murders of Supreme Court Judges in USA. Two high profile Judges are killed in same night by a pro who is suspected to be the most talented assassin in the world. White House puts the pressure on FBI and CIA to nab the culpirits. When they are making the list of suspects, a legal student researches and makes a brief about a leading pending case whoes outcome can be manipulated by the murders. The brief known as Pelican Brief when reaches White House puts President in real trouble as it can tarnish his image in the coming re-elections. Murder attempts are made on the student and her professer com lover is killed. A mob of killers are out on streets for the blood of any one who has seen the brief, and she has to expose the truth while saving herself from imminent death with the help of a news thirsty reporter who can go to any lengths for a scoop....

Friday, October 24, 2008

A friend indeed

I called one of my dearest friends yesterday...

After a long gap of 4 years...
Its my own fault... I dont care for keping up my contacts....
But the feeling when you contact some one after such a long time is awesome...
There will be a lot to say... long list of complaints, a lot of catching up.... nostalgia.. glimpses of all the time you spend together... its a great feeling altogether..

And what a time to call... next month he is getting married...
Got a sweet invitation....
A must attend wedding next month...

Monday, October 20, 2008

Anger Management

There is a dialogue in the Malayalam movie Adhipan told by a drunken Mohan Lal: " Wow, what a relief after calling some one a bastard."
I know it is true now because today I did it. The victim was HR executive of previous firm where I worked. I wanted to settle my old PF account, but due to a mistake from PF office, I recieved only a small amount as settlement. Thereafter it was a frantic running around for long 4 months now. I have to leave all my work and travel from Bangalore to Coimbatore and from there run around from PF office to HR dept of the company. A full day's work and a financial loss of around 1000 bucks.
Apart from that I calls PF office and HR office atleast once in 2 weeks. Each time a new guy attends the call and I have to explain him every thing from start. Ultimately last month I settled the things and was expecting the cash to come by this month at least. This week also nothing happened.... I called the HR officer today and he was asking me which PF amount I was talking about. Blood rushed into my head and I shouted to him what all came into my mind.....
After 10 minutes he called me back.... He started explaining to me and promised that he will personaly attend the case.
Moral of the story: "Only crying baby gets milk"

Sunday, October 19, 2008

TT day...

Today I played Table tennis after a long gap....

The occasion was the sports day of the group of companies in which I am working.

The first time I played TT was when I was studying first year at NTTF... all my batchmates especially malayalees developed a sudden interest. We had TT board and some bats at hostel auditorium and we used to practice almost daily for some time....

After that I touched TT bat after a gap of 4 years when I was working at NTTF, for a very short while only....

Then its today again after a gap of 4 years... But a very disappointing experience. I was not able to do even a warm up before the match. Lack of practice clearly showed up... I was out in first match itself... first set 11-6, second 11-9. Luck was also too bad today.... there where guys who dont even know how to hold the bat, as I got last year's runner up as competitor.....

Later I played for some time after TT board was free... within just half an hour I was able to spin the ball and control its speed and pitching. And I can confidently say that if I get that guy again for a match I can finish him off... But gone is gone..... I will have to wait for another opportunity... may be next year...

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Sensex for Dummies


Last sunday I watched this movie called Saas Bahu & Sensex. Interesting name? Directed by Shona Urvashi and produced by Warner Bros. it is a comedy about the most unlikely investors in Indian stock market. The soap watching, gossiping, nagging, kitty ladies in a colony gets interested in stock trading... and what follows is hilarious....

It is the kind of movie that draws people only in multiplexes and many people watches after it is aired in a cable channel- which will happen soon, and certified a flop in the first week of release. But the movie addresses a very important question arising every investor's mind in a bullish market- to keep or to sell. And the answer given is simple and the most accurate... When price is less buy, buy after studying the potential of the company.... always invest with a long term goal...

And at this time of turmoil in the market, this movie may put some sense in worried investor's minds. Because the falls are not here to stay, there will be a rise, stay sensible and reap the benefits....

PN: Watching Farroq Sheikh after a long hiatus is refreshing, after all, these days where do we see such natural comedians.... all overacting buffoonery...

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

The Class

Last day evening I was sitting with two gentlemen much senior to me. It was a very accidental meeting. I was in darkroom when they entered. There was no space for them and I was sitting alone. Waiter made them sit next to me. They were two aged guys talking in Kannada. When they asked me from where I was I responded that I am a Malayalee in Kannada. They were impressed and appreciated the fact that I learned the local language in so less a time. Then we started conversing. About life in general, career, their views about world and stuff like that. The kind of conversation that you will die for but seldom manage to do.

They were two senior advocates- contented advocates if I borrow their words. They earns what I earns in a month as just 3 hours consultation fee. Still they considered me as a mate. The elder person was speaking of the class. He told we belonged to a class, although we were different age, profession, earning or community. I could identify it immediately- it was the class of refined, content, emotionally matured people who are brought up with a cultured parentage.... That was the thing that connected us... We are a minority. But no one can miss us.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Lessons in Coexistence- Bollywood style


Today I happened to see a Hindi movie- Hulla directed by Jaideep Verma. Movie is not a big budget trash that Bollywood churns out regularly like Dhoom 2 or the more recent Drona, nor is it the serious crossover self centric cinema like The Last Lear or No Smoking. If you are familiar with Rajat Kapoor kind of film making you can identify the genre of this movie. Its not a cinematic masterpiece or not even a good entertainer. It drags in parts, there is lot of overacting and hamming.

But the best part of Hulla is that it portrays the importance of Coexisting in the modern society. It shows how a very simple situation if tackled with some amiability can turn nasty and out of control due to egoistic and self centered approach by the protagonists. In the movie every one connected with the incident loses much...

Another movie which deals with same theme in a more popular and entertaining style is Taxi No. 9-2-11, starring Nana and John Abraham.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

TATA... bye bye...What next?

So after a long political drama and uncertainties TATA is pulling out of Singur. What next?

Many questions arise at this critical juncture...

  • When will ultimately the common man's car roll out?
  • Who benefits out of Tata's exit from Singur? ....Mamatha Banarjee- after a successful campaign against the plant? Other state govts who finally gets a chance too woo Tata to their place? Common farmers who may get their acquired land? Rivals of Tata who dreads an entry of Nano- other small car, two wheeler and three wheeler manufacturers, to whom Nano is a threat? or any real estate agencies who may be planning to grab the acquired land at a cheap cost?
  • Who are the losers? ..... Tatas who have invested a fortune there? Ruling communist party who has lost their image? People of Bengal?
  • What will happen to all the acquired land? Will it go back to farmers or will some one make it their own once the temperature comes down?

Friday, October 3, 2008

The Stranger.....


Mahendra Kapoor is no more....

His demise happened couple of days back. I am surprised I am late to mention it in this blog.... Because he is one of those singers who has sung such a gem of songs- especially sad and patriotic numbers, that I really love to hear repeatedly..

I am used to hearing hindi songs from a long time... I started watching Rangoli program in DD when I was around 10 years. But I started hearing them seriously from when I was 15, when I bought an audio cassette of Kishore Kumar songs sung by Abhijeet. I started collecting cassettes of Kishore, Rafi and Mukesh which where available in plenty. I was not aware of Mahendra Kapoor then. After 5 more years when I was working at Bangalore my room mate bought an old cassette of a collection of sad songs, of which many I had heard before. I thought they were sung by Rafi. My friend corrected me and explained about Mahendra Kapoor.

After repeatedly hearing them I really started loving those soulful, melodious numbers. Some of those songs were 'Andhere mein jo baithe hain', 'Mere desh ki dharti', 'Cahlo ek baar phirse', 'Tum agar satth dene ka' etc. He was the voice of Manoj Kumar as Mukesh was to Raj Kapoor.

After some more years I happened to read an article about poet Sahir Ludhiyaanvi who had written the lyrics of the song ' Chalo ek baar'. In it was the circumstances that led him to write the song. After reading that I started loving the song much more. I was more humbled by the singing of Mahendra Kapoor, because he was able to portray the true emotion that may be felt by Sahir while penning the poem.

'Chalo ek baar' Video





Thursday, October 2, 2008

Gandhi Jayanthi thoughts

Its October 2nd today... The day in which nation celebrates the birthday of a father figure.... Of such a personality about whom much is told and written...

Last day I was chatting with a friend of mine when I casually remarked on Gandhiji... It seems he hates him, he told me Gandhi was responsible for deaths of thousands of Indians and for the partition of India into India and Pakistan. He told all he did was drive Indians towards the lathis and other weapons of soldiers and made them suffer torture... He himself never undergone any sufferings. And Gandhi was responsible for the hanging of Bhagat singh and his comrades. As per his opinion we gained independence due to the fear in the mind of Britishers of revolutionaries like Bose and Azad...

This I believe is the opinion of a whole generation. In Orkut and other forums there is lot of Gandhi bashing going on... making him responsible for all troubles India has now. Some even blames him for putting his family to suffer and not providing enough care for his children...

How much of this is true? Of course every mortal in this world are bound to make mistakes, every one will be in some sort of cross roads or dilemma in some point of their life time, where they are forced to take a decision, which may be painful or proved wrong in future... We dont know at that point whether the step that we take are right or a blunder but the strength of a person, I believe is in taking the decision. And if you have a set of strong fundamental principles that are evolved and tested with time, which is always a reference point while deciding, the chance of a wrong decision is minimal. Still if you made a wrong choice, there is no way but to bear the responsibility for that, do every corrective actions possible and amend your principles in order to prevent any future mishaps....

This I believe was Gandhiji's modus operandi... It is a hard way to follow, and that is precisely the reason why we have very less people following the path.. we have one Buddha, one Asoka, one Gandhi or one Jesus at any point in history...

I would like to paint a picture of Gandhi if he was like you and me or like those numerous barristers trained in England at that period...

After completing his studies he reaches back to Gujarat and starts a practice there, in due course of time he will attend many cases make a huge bank balance, provide a princely life for his children who will attend colleges abroad. Ba lives the life of a queen. Then Gandhiji realizes that money is not every thing and slowly turns into politics. Moment is ripe, nationalism is spreading its roots. With his enterprising skills reaching the positions of Congress will be a cakewalk for him. By pulling threads inside some how he reaches the positions of Congress President... Second world war is going on... Britain is slowly turning poor due to all war expenditure and heavy losses. They are bent, some negotiation will surely make them to break. Nation gets its independence, Gandhi is the first President. All powers to President... an autocratic rule follows, where every one against the power is oppressed and silenced. Following years of tyranny some other leader or common people or military decides to put an end to it. He is assassinated and some other autocrat or oppressor takes the role.

Sounds familiar? This is the story similar to many other countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America that gained freedom along with India... Ever thought why this has not happened in India?.... Due to the rigourus training course through which Indian common man was put through in four or five decades before gaining freedom.. A course designed by Gandhi and put into practise by other eminent leaders of the time. Even at the verge of attaining freedom Gandhiji knew that freedom was not ripe enough and Indians are not still prepared for it. The course was still not over... But the pressure from other leaders where enormous. British offered freedom but kept a choice of partition along with it. Power hungry leaders struck to it. History says Gandhi consented with partition. And whole world blames him for it. But any layman who has some ability to read between lines can find what is the truth..... It is that he was sidelined. Dirty politics had entered the arena.... Our first Prime Minister and Home Minister had stitched their new coats ready and they were impatient to wear it... Along with them the new Wazir-i-azam of our new brother country Pakistan....

Do you know the real story during partition?

Lord Mount Batten was expecting troubles and riots during partition... two regions prone for violence were Bengal and Punjab.... As per Mount Batten's analysis hot headed Bengal was more explosive and Punjab he was confident that he could manage. He devised a plan to contain violence by sorting the help from Gandhiji. He requested the presence of Gandhiji at Bengal after partition. The presence of Gandhiji made sure that after partition the violence in Bengal was minimal. But Punjab proved to be a failure. All of Mount Batten's force couldn't stop the loss of lives of a million people...

Instead of resigning to a life of luxuary and content this guy abandoned every thing and clad only in a single cloth with the help of a staff toured the villages in India mobilising people and making each of them desire freedom just like if not more than the elite in cities... He lived the life of a sanyasi practicing any thing that he preached on himself first. Most of his time he spent in British Jails.... He served the poor like one among them. And he was not power crazy, other wise with his kind of public support none could stop him from reching the top power centres...

Ever read any part of his literature? In it contains every planning, that too from root level of building up a strong nation, not military strong but one that is strong fundamentaly, one laid on the strong foundations of truth.... You can call him unpractical, you can disagree with him, but I feel accusing him of all the above said crime is an injustice...

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

The great attack...

Today I didn't go for jogging...

Actually I had started to jog only last week, with my room mate. It was going fine, but we didn't jog on Sunday telling that we will have a day off. Then we didn't go on Monday... We were not able to get up at our usual time ie 5:30 am. On Tuesday we went and today again we missed. I really love to jog but only problem is getting up from bed. If that is done half work is done....

I think the great attack of Laziness has started again... Last time it struck when I was going to gym.. I did it for around 6 months and then left it totally without any provocation. If I had continued it today I would have had some 6 or 8 pack.... But now i just have all of these pack rolled into one big air bag...

I wont let it strike again, I will continue jogging from the next day......