Butter and Mashed Bananas

Saw this play a while back, 'Butter and Mashed Bananas', with a remarkable storyline, fantastic acting and great direction.

But first let me see if I can outline what this play was about. Was it a jab at our society? Or was it an uppercut to our politicians? Or a left hook to the system we live in? The play was damn funny but extremely thought provoking at the same time. It was very innovative, saw lots of things being depicted in such noteworthy new ways…

But why the hell am I having a tough time describing this play??? It is actually straightforward…it is about a boy who is born to parents, by accident I may add, who belong to the opposite ends of the political and social ideology in India.

Growing up the boy faces struggles to find his own identity, always torn between his parent’s choices. The boy grows up to become a world famous author and writes a brilliant book but surprisingly the book goes completely unnoticed in India. He finds out that his book got censored and did not even make it to the Indian market. He tries to make a film to reach out to the country and that too gets censored. He questions, who is this censor board? What qualifications to they have and what are these limits they agree upon and who decides them? Why is the censor board so random even though it consists of highly reputable people with degrees from the most well known educational institutions of the world?
Anyway his life continues and he decides not to give up and to do something about the system, he joins politics. There he finds himself caught in a terrible mess just because of making some simple statements like “Truth shall prevail” and “The culprits should be caught”. He tries hard but finally other politicians join hands and overwhelm him. He slips away from people’s memory and unappreciated in his own country he fades away…

I don't think the short description here in this post is going to convey how good the play was. The music, played live, the brilliant acting, the directing and the simplicity of it all actually made this play extremely enjoyable but only by actually seeing it will you be able to appreciate what it is and what it does…

Two articles worth reading in the otherwise pretty much useless 'Bangalore Times'.

The first one is featuring Aparna Sen. I have loved all her films and admire her work a lot. I think she is one of the best Indian directors ever.

Here is the article about her and her upcoming film: I can't make those feelgood, laugh-a-line films

The second one is about probably a lesser known person, Gerry Martin. He is the first Indian National Geographic adventurer specializing in snakes and crocodiles. I had seen him once on Nat Geo when he was trying to catch a Cobra for an anti venom institute. In the program, even though Gerry manages to get a hold of the Cobra's head, somehow the snake manages to bite him on his hand. Gerry, actually unfazed, proceeds to bag the snake, gets behind the wheel of a car and drives himself to the hospital. He explains that the reason he himself is driving is to keep himself alert. Gerry points out that the cobra's venom affects the nervous system and in order to fight that he should remain alert and not slip into a lethargy [sic ???]. He gets an anti-venom injection and then gets discharged from the hospital the next day. He then adds "I don't hold a grudge against the snake, what would you do if someone was pinning you down, holding the back of your head?"
Here is the small article on Gerry: Gerry Martin, Wildlife Expert

Now Tigers...

Early numbers from the ongoing Tiger census being done by the Wildlife Institute of India indicate that there is a decline of 65% in the Tiger population in Madhya Pradesh, which has the largest population of Tigers in India. Also indications are that the other areas in the country will see the same or increased rate of decline. In 2001 and 2002 a Tiger census had estimated about 3700 Tigers left in the country.
Looks like while the Tigers, an endangered species, have done well in the conservation and reservation areas, they are pretty much getting wiped out from the outside areas. Poaching is the main culprit for this dramatic decline but the key thing that Wildlife Institute of India suggests is "effective tiger conservation would only become a reality if reserves are connected to one another so tigers have a larger population and area to breed and hunt." But this is not the reality today and "habitat destruction and human encroachment were leading to declining numbers."
This is just real depressing news, the final census number is likely to be anywhere between as little as several hundred to a maximum of just about 2000.

Delta and Dawn

Delta and Dawn are the two humpback mother and calf whales that lost their way while migrating from probably somewhere near Oregon on the US west coast on their way to Mexico. The mother and her calf appear injured and the mother has a deep gash which probably came after being hurt by a ship's propeller. This may have caused the mother to go off course and swim up a river. They have been swimming upstream for nearly 2 weeks now somewhere around Sacramento. The theory is that the mother may have brought the calf up to safe water to help the calf recover.

There have been rescue efforts involving scientists going on to return the whales back towards the ocean. They are nearly 90 miles up the river and returning all the way back to the ocean is a long and arduous journey that will probably end when they swim under the Golden Gate Bridge into the Pacific. Currently the whales had been successfully made to head towards the ocean but they turned back up river and returned about 3 miles. They are now about 65 miles from the ocean.

Humpback whales are an endangered species that were ravaged by unrestricted whale hunting and their population reduced by nearly 90% at one point and were almost brought to the brink of extinction. Humpbacks are famous for their 'Whale Song' which has been an area of research for long. Although whales cannot survive long in fresh water, the mother and calf are looking healthy. I really hope they make it back safe to the ocean...

21.1kms

After doing the full marathon, 42.2kms, at the Bangalore Marathon last year, I decided to do the half marathon, 21.1kms, in this year's marathon which happened to be a midnight one. This time the objective was to train right, perform strong and hit a target time.

The Bangalore Midnight Marathon was organized on 19th May. The organizers claimed that we were creating history by running the first ever midnight marathon. My main aim was to have a much stronger run this time and since it was a night marathon which meant much lower temperatures, really focus on getting a good time in. I set myself a target of at least 2 hours 30 minutes, otherwise I find myself a lake or something and go jump in it, and at the same time I was dreaming of a sub 2 hour run. Seriously I only dreamt of sub 2 hours, awake I knew it just wouldn't happen ;-). Anyway I finished the run in 2 hours 15 minutes. The official time is awaited but my stopwatch indicated 2:15. Wall Street and Dalal Street would have been so happy, I gave an outlook forecast of 2:30 to 2:00 and hit it bang in the middle :D

The course was fairly tough one, for me. It was a circuit of about 5 kilometers and you had to run around 4 times to complete the half marathon. It consisted of 5 uphill sections and about 3 flat and downhill sections each, making it a fairly tough course. Couple of the climbs were pretty treacherous, anyway loaded with carbs throughout the day and appropriately rested to remain fresh at the start, the race started. I made a mistake on the first round itself, in that I carried a full one liter water bottle with me, long story forget that but I shouldn't have done it. That took a lot out of me. In my practice runs I had usually covered the first 5kms in about 26 to 28 minutes and so while I was expecting to cover the first round in 28 minutes or so, this time round it took me nearly 32 minutes. I finally chucked the bottle and from then on the second round roughly took me another 32 minutes, the third round about 34 minutes and the fourth round about 37 minutes.

The fourth round, what can I say, "I" missed it! ;-)
My mind was there, my body was there but "I" wasn't! Those two kept arguing about they should stop and walk, no they shouldn't but in any case I was somewhere else. Don't know where, somewhere floating around I guess. So during the last round the mind kept winning and the body tagged along like that faithful Pug dog in that Hutch ad for quite a while but at the steepest climb of the course the mind finally relented to the body's demand to walk that section. But at the top of that climb as soon as the mind saw someone overtake them, the mind booted the body in the behind and they were both up and running. They immediately overtook the overtaker and from there on they ran all the way to the finish line including the last uphill finish. Thanks guys!!!

How do you ensure that your US consulate visa interview lasts only about a minute? Make sure that the person interviewing you is an ex-employee of your company! Well that's what happened to me. The guy was an ex-Intel guy working for foreign services now, I guess. We joked around a little about what acronym addicts we are before he added "You'll get your visa in a couple of days" and that was that! ;-)

Parkour

Have you seen the latest 007 movie, Casino Royale? No? Then first go down to the end of the post and click on the Casino Royale movie link and watch the initial 5 minute chase clipping. Ok now if you have seen the movie then you probably remember the chase right at the beginning of the movie. In this sequence Bond is chasing some bomb maker type of suspect through a building construction site having those typical tall cranes and heavy machinery. Bond chases the suspect at full speed and they both jump around like crazy from heights and through holes so small that it almost seems impossible. Well that is Parkour or free running. And the black guy Bond is chasing is Sébastien Foucan, one of the founders of free running/Parkour.

Parkour (l'art du déplacement) is defined as the aim to move from point A to point B as efficiently as possible, using the abilities of your human body to the limit. Also known as Free Running, it is doesn't need an obstacle course, an arena or any specialized equipment as such, it is basically meant to be done in your surrounding environment, where you live, work, play, etc. In articles it is not recognized as a sport but more of an art which combines martial arts, gymnastics and self defense. The idea is to use dexterity and physical strength of your body to efficiently escape or simply get from point A to point B. It could be done while climbing down stairs or just while going somewhere.

I recently saw a feature on Parkour on Nation Geographic and man did it look exciting. The techniques, the roll after the jump, the balancing, etc, looked extremely exciting. I like running and this, on the face of it, just seemed like a new way of running. But obviously Parkour is extremely tough and requires super strong upper bodies to pull yourself up from any hanging or inclined position and powerful legs so that you have balance after jumping and even in awkward positions. Strong abdominal muscles are probably key too with all the twisting and bending. Finally, agility and flexibility are definitely required. So roughly speaking it requires a super fit and super flexible body…ha! :-)

In many cases effective Parkour techniques depend upon rapid redistribution of body weight and by utilizing momentum to perform seemingly impossible or difficult body maneuvers. Absorption and redistribution of energy is also an important factor. Example, the body rolls when landing which reduces impact forces on the legs and spinal column, allowing a jump from greater heights than those often considered sensible...

Search for Parkour on YouTube, it has a ton of videos showing amazing maneuvers and tricks from all round the world…
Casino Royale sequence
Parkour – Wiki
Parkour/Free Running video

Hey! Did they just show some cricket?

Steve Waugh watched some of the world cup matches in India and looks like we left an impression on him. Here is what he had to say "[The telecast] is annoying, ridiculous and an insult to the game to see an advertisement being squeezed in just because the bowler has not reached the top of his run-up. The telecast in India is unwatchable." Luckily he was watching from some bar so he probably didn't catch the commentary by some of the 'greats'.

Anyway, I can't agree more with Iceman. I am sure he used his famous 'Iceman' skills to survive the telecast because it was just so hard to watch a match this world cup without flinging the choicest of abuses at everyone involved in the coverage.

The telecast was laughable, if something happened on the last ball of the over like a four or an lbw appeal then kiss goodbye to the replay. Before you could say "howzzat!" or "wow!" the ads would have started and you would be left wondering "wha? how? huh?" And suppose if the telecast got back from the ads and the bowler was still in the process, with his captain, in setting the field then bang! You were back to watching some of same ads all over again. Also I just hated the ads that occupied the bottom portion of the screen destroying the scale/aspect ratio of the cricket portion of the screen. The coverage was very disrespectful towards cricket and the people watching it. I hope Set Max never ever gets to telecast any more cricket and am just waiting for ESPN/Star Sports to telecast some matches...

I really like the way how ads with cricketers have disappeared off the TV these days. Only poor Irfan Pathan's that Indian Oil ad keeps coming.
BTW the Appy fizz ad where the Parsi family is watching cricket with Appy Fizz is pretty hilarious. The Parsi lady shouts "money grows on trees or what", a really stinging poke at the other sponsors and companies that spent bundles of money on the Indian team and on this world cup. Watch it here: Appy Fizz Ad

UEFA Champions League

Liverpool and AC Milan despite losing the first leg of their respective semi final matches came up with much better performances to win their second leg matches and make it through to the finals. The match up of Liverpool and Milan in the finals, which is the repeat of the 2005 finals, is the best I could have hoped for. In 2005 Liverpool beat AC Milan in penalties, this time I want and also think AC Milan to and will win. You have to look at Milan's matches with Manchester United to see why...

Liverpool had lost 0-1 to Chelsea in the first leg but won the 2nd leg 1-0. Being tied at an aggregate score of 1-1 the teams headed for penalties where Liverpool's goalkeeper pulled off two magnificent saves. He guessed right twice and saved two low and hard drives to send Liverpool into the finals. I saw the first leg and Chelsea looked better and I felt Chelsea would win the second leg too. But, I missed the second leg, from the reports I read Chelsea played with a very bad defensive strategy. They thought they would sit on the one goal lead but Liverpool made them pay. From the highlights Liverpool did look as the better team.

Now in the other semi final match up, AC Milan in the first leg, despite a stunning performance by Kaká had lost 2-3 to Manchester United. Dida, Milan's goalkeeper, had a very poor performance where he committed two bad mistakes that had resulted in goals. Dida's performance was so frustrating that one Milan fan had put Dida up on sale on eBay and just before eBay pulled out the auction item the best bid for the goalkeeper was just 96$s! Dida's second mistake was in the 91st minute deep in extra time that resulted in Milan going into the second leg down 2-3.
In the second leg Milan just outclassed ManU, winning 3-0 and thus going through on aggregate 5-3. I saw both the matches and ManU was a shadow of its own self in the second leg. They gave the ball away 21 times and C. Ronaldo was responsible for many of those. Kaká and Seedorf executed a perfect script to embarrass ManU. Milan used the home field advantage thoroughly, the San Siro crowd cheering every Kaká move and jeering every C. Ronaldo slip up.
Here is what one report had to say “Certainly, C Ronaldo owes his manager a performance after last night, so too Wayne Rooney, both of whom only needed to look to Kaká and Clarence Seedorf to know how true winners respond.”

During the first leg the commentators had gotten into an argument about who is better Kaká or C. Ronaldo. And obviously one English commentator picked C. Ronaldo and went on and on about his pace and brilliance. But the two matches showed how people should not even be mentioning C. Ronaldo along with Kaká. Kaká scored 3 goals in the two matches and two of them in the first leg were just his own sheer brilliance. C. Ronaldo had so much possession and took so many free kicks all amounting to nothing. But anytime Kaká had possession he was breathtakingly fluid with sublime control. He created opportunities all round and just ripped the ManU midfield and defense. After these two matches there is no doubt in my mind who I consider to be currently the best footballer in the world.

Highlights from the the first leg of the Milan vs ManU match, just keep your eyes on Kaká: