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Ek Hulchul

Ek Hulchul, ek aberration, ek weirdness...that is what the movie Dev.D is...

Of the tons and tons of things that are wrong with our Hindi movie industry, Dev.D is an aberration. It is what is right and how the industry should be. The movie is bold, frank and risky. It is all things that the Hindi movies should strive to achieve. The movie is so good that I totally don't care about its flaws, which is mainly its length. The movie should be shorter by about 30 minutes. But despite that everything about this movie, I appreciate...

Anurag Kashyap, Abhay Deol and the whole crew, they don't deserve to be thanked with just a pat on the back. They need to be blindly given all the awards for this year. Just give it to them, all of them. The movie on a whole is brilliant, the concept, the story and the script. The direction, the music etc all stand out. The movie is just too risky and risqué! So glad that they made a movie like this, really shows the talent that resides deep inside bollywood.

The music is outstanding. The songs Ankh Micholi, Duniya, the rock version of Emosanal Attyachaar all are good stuff. Nayan Tarse is really good, the start is so Pink Floyd-esque, it's a trip ;-). When has a Hindi song ever been a trip (Tell me if you know of one, maybe I haven't heard it). Dhol Yaara Dhol and Saali Khushi really stand out. Dhol Yaara Dhol is actually outstanding with its beautiful Indian folksy music, arrangement and singing. But the song I liked the best is the uplifting 'Ek Hulchul Si'. That is exactly what this movie is...Ek Hulchul!

With recent movies like A Wednesday, Rock On, Dasvidaniya and Dev.D this "hulchul" seems to be catching momentum and it for sure has whet my appetite.

Smoke Signals - Summertime Rocks

Came across this song by a folk/pop/rock fusion band called Smoke based out of Bombay.
Kailash Kher, who is probably the current "Voice of India", is the singer with background vocals by two guys, Ashu and Dhruv. Ashu and Dhruv who own a pub called Bull Frog in Bombay are the mainstay of the band Smoke and Kailash Kher is the guest singer on this song...
One thing apart from the song and music that stuck with me are the various sights from around Bombay that keeping popping up and passing in the background :)

42

No, no, I am not giving the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. It is just that I finished another full marathon and a marathon is 42 kilometers...

The Bangalore Midnight Marathon was held last weekend. This event was supposed to happen in December 2008 but got postponed and then at the very last minute they rescheduled it and probably that is why the participation was very low. The half marathon still had decent participation but the full marathon participation was extremely low, probably less than 100 people ran the full marathon.

Anyway, I had been preparing for the half marathon and targeting 1 hour 45 minutes but a week before the run decided to do the full thing. Did a 16k run the weekend before in 1 hour 23 minutes and felt that the 4 hour mark for the full was definitely attainable.

During the race, [as expected] since I had prepared for the half marathon, the first half went off quite well. I was at the halfway mark at about 1 hour 50 minutes and the 4 hour target was still in sight. But then the decline set in. And it set in at a much faster rate than expected. I was able to get to 31-32 kilometers only by about 3 hours, about 10 minutes behind schedule. The last 10K saw further decline and I finished the whole thing by only about 4 hours 18 minutes...

The race organization was definitely flawed. We were running loops of about a 10km route and the water stations in the second section were just too less and later in the run whatever few water stations were there they also had wrapped up and disappeared. Luckily friends who had earlier finished the half marathon helped out and provided electrolyte water and some energy bars.

Since the participation was less and the professionals hadn't showed up, I finished 5th in the men's section and 6th overall. The first two spots went to professionals, an Ethiopian and an Indian. The fifth overall spot and first in the women's section went to my friend who finished in 4 hours 16 minutes...

So the race was good for me, I was really sore after the run, had to pop an Advil but overall I was quite satisfied. There was a nagging suspicion that the route had not been measured accurately and later we confirmed from a friend who had run with a GPS watch that the organizers did actually blunder with the measurement and in fact the total distance covered was 43.2kms. One kilometer more than the official distance, so based on that I probably would have finished the full distance in about 4 hours 9 or 10 minutes. That puts me below 4:10 so that gives a little more satisfaction...

Satisfied but not sated. Missed the 4:00 mark...

I plan to run more races this year than last year. Probably shorter distances for now, a 10k and a half marathon before taking a shot at the 4 hour mark once more towards the end of the year...

Please don’t utter another word about the ‘Spirit of Mumbai’. Or how it is ‘Business as usual’, because the time to be philosophical/stoical about our shattered lives is over.

The ordeal may be over…. but not the battle. Faces of all those who died, must be remembered. No forgetting, no forgiving this time. The time for that is over. Stay together. Stay angry.

-Shobhaa De

MY bleeding city. My poor great bleeding heart of a city. Why do they go after Mumbai? There’s something about this island-state that appalls religious extremists, Hindus and Muslims alike. Perhaps because Mumbai stands for lucre, profane dreams and an indiscriminate openness.

- Suketu Mehta

Ktulu

After ages I heard Metallica's "The Call of Ktulu" and then I thought I'd ask this question. Which Metallica song is your favorite? Enter Sandman? Unforgiven? Nothing else matters? One?

None of these are my favorites. Mine are, by far, Orion, Call of Ktulu, To Live is to Die and Pulling Teeth. They are all Cliff Burton songs. Songs where Cliff, Metallica's bassist at that time, played a dominant role in writing and arranging these songs. He shows off his musical ability not just with the bass guitar but by displaying sheer genius in composing and some super genius in song arrangement skills.

But Cliff Burton died in a freak bus accident at the age of 24. Since then the other members of the band have tried so hard to create music of Cliff's caliber. Lars Ulrich the revered drummer and James Hetfield considered my many the ultimate front man, pale in comparison to Cliff. They have tried very hard for the last 22 years to recreate music at Cliff's level but never ever came close in capturing the magic that Cliff could bring. Don't get me wrong the rest of the band has made some really good stuff but Cliff was the 'X' factor that the band and we as well will never ever have again. They tried a lot, on subsequent albums and songs like "The Outlaw Torn" etc etc but never came close. Also I am not claiming Cliff did it all by himself and if one of the others had left instead of him, outstanding music would have still continued to be made. No, everyone in the band played a part but it was Cliff who paid the biggest and most influential role.

For me their best albums are the second and third ones, "Ride the Lightning" and "Master of Puppets". On the first album the songs were already written by the time Cliff joined but he still managed to influence a couple of songs but in the next two albums he played a major role. Then the first album after his death there were still some remnants that Cliff had put down that the band members used and turned out a decent album but since then, without Cliff, the rest of the band just haven't been able to make anything close. They have been lost like kids without their elder brother. Lost in trying to create music that blows people away, the band has only managed to create commercial upheval but nothing that can be called path breaking or mind blowing. Things that they were known for when Cliff was around...

All this by the way is my belief. Metallica has been a phenomenal commercial success. They have gone from strength to strength with regards to the number of fans and money. They easily sell out stadiums in any remote corner of the world but for me their music has become worse and worse. Their music is stale, taking the easy way out wherever they find it.

I think the band members do realize what they lost when Cliff died and probably that is why they hardly ever play in entirety some of the Cliff Burton songs...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_Burton

It's time to Ramble On...

I think I need to take off the previous snake post from the top of my blog. Looks like it freaked out people more than required and might end up keeping them away from my blog :) So just gonna ramble on, sing my song...

The Lives of Others; words that just make me want to use all the superlative adjectives in one sentence.

The Bucket List & Rock On; words that make all those millions and millions of self help books a total waste...

Economy; brrrrrrrrrrrr, whats going to happen >:\

Chloropsis , Hoopoe, Orientalis, Accipiter badius, etc; words that make so much more sense than it did just two posts back...

Mark III 1Ds and 800mm; Yeah, right!!! Dream on!

And finally,
Bomb Blasts; words that make me want to put on sneakers and run all over my city to show them that it won't work...

Snakemaster

Steve Irwin is gone, RIP, leaving behind an unmatchable trail and a huge void. But there is this guy Austin Stevens on Nat Geo, who if you catch him on TV, you will not change the channel.
I am posting two videos as proof. These videos will make the hair on your hands stand, your spine tingle and whatever else that happens to you when you seriously get freaked out :-)

The first video is Austin Stevens coming face to face with a King Cobra, actually somewhere in Kerala. The King Cobra stands almost 4 feet in height when it raises its hood. Do not miss the ending when he animatedly talks about the experience with the snake and his respect for the King.
The second video is when he comes face to face with a Snout Cobra. And believe it or not, gets bitten. He does survive and goes back to photograph the snake! Making you jump even higher than you already were ;-)
Just watch both videos in full, they are just amazing...

2008 Wimbledon

After yesterday's Winbledon final between Federer and Nadal, I had to mark the day on my blog...

This is in joy and not pain...


The new champion...


And finally, doesn't matter what trophy he was holding, he is the best tennis player, ever...

Euro 2008 - Friday the 13th - Group of Death

Brrrrrrrrrrr...how ominous is today, its Friday the 13th and the most dangerous group, in the Euro 2008 football tournament, has two very critical matches. This group, the group of death, consists of 3 teams currently ranked in the top 10 teams of the world, world champions Italy, Netherlands and France.

The Dutch have been the most impressive, already thumping Italy 3-0. France has been dull, playing a very lackluster 0-0 draw with Romania. That brings us to today's fixtures, first Italy versus Romania. Must win game for Italy otherwise they are probably out and will no longer control their destiny. The second game is Netherlands versus France. Again France needs to win to remain alive. The draw between France and Romania has complicated matters but definitely made this group even more interesting...

My predictions for today ;-)
Italy wins 1-0 against Romania
1-1 draw between France and Netherlands

ps: I have a day job so don't go putting money behind these predictions :D

More about BIAL...

The article by RK Misra (Winner of the Times of India Lead India initiative) is a real eye-opener on how the government is just trying to wash its hands off the BIAL controversy...

How govt hoodwinked the public - By RK Misra
Its quite a short article but it will really open your eyes to the fact that how nobody is caring about the needs of the public...

The moment the first round of polls (including in Bangalore) was over, negotiations were concluded the next day at a meeting, without any minutes, and the government announced the closure of HAL airport.

The opening date was conveniently slotted for May 23, which is just after the polls (to avoid the Election Commission’s wrath) and two days before the high court opens after the summer recess. This denies the public an opportunity to expose the negotiation drama and request the HC for an interim stay order.

Surprisingly, no leader is available for comment now. This is our democracy, where the public is being duped by seasoned politicians playing a well-orchestrated drama.

Taking people for a royal ride - BIAL

The people behind the new Bangalore International Airport are taking the public for a royal ride and the city/state administration is doing nothing about it. The new airport opens tomorrow...

Just as a simple example, the cost of the flights I usually take from Bangalore to Bombay will go now up by nearly 65% from tomorrow. There is an user development fee of 650Rs charged to the passenger every time the airport is used, second, the god forsaken airport is 45 kilometers from where I live and apart from the 3 hours it is going to take me to get to the airport its going to cost me about 800Rs to take a taxi each way. So a Bangalore-Bombay to and fro ticket that used to cost me about 4.5 thousand before is now going to cost me around 7.5 thousand rupees. And what do I as a passenger get out of this? Absolutely nothing! Zilch! In fact I pay more and suffer more, on an average, commute time for everyone triples, the airline congestion problem doesn't get solved because this new airport is not equipped to handle even the total passengers that flew from Bangalore last year let alone the 25% increase in the number of people flying forecast for this year...

Seriously all I have to say is WTF!!! Actually scream out WTF...this makes absolutely no sense. The roads to the airport don't finish for 2 more years, the airport still won't save me pain of standing in huge lines and the delay in flights and all it does is increase my commute/flying time and rips me off another 2-3 thousand rupees...

The whole city just needs to stand up and say WTF! Yes we will be dishonouring a contract but so what, the public didn't sign it, some idiot politician signed it and the public was not even aware of these conditions. The Supreme Court itself directed that the airport is monopolistic and unfair on the public and the contract should be re-negotiated, but what happened? The government and BIAL met behind closed doors, the details of the meeting were not made public just the decision to close the old airport completely and open the new one was made. No explanation was given other than the fact that the talks failed. To this I say F you and also show you 1 particular finger of mine. Guess which finger, you dumb a-holes from BIAL and the administration...

Michael Jackson + Bhangra

An extremely entertaining video from a talent show in Britain. Michael Jackson mixed up with Bhangra, you'll see, just wait for the time elapsed to hit 1:15 ;-)

Sreesanth's Antics

Harbhajan's ban is definitely justified and fitting but there was niggling doubt that there was more to the story and Sreesanth the guy who growls and snarls after every ball with or without merit, usually more of the latter, was getting away with something.
Then this article by Anil Dharker caught my eye and it really showed that Sreesanth was no innocent victim that he tried to portray himself as by crying on the field.

In the Mumbai Indians-Punjab match there was clear evidence that the Kerala fast bowler, whose bark is always worse than his bite, had abused the Mumbai team right through its innings, including its captain Harbhajan Singh. We didn’t need secret cameras to see it, everyone could see Sree Santh snarl like a rabid dog again and again hurling four-letter words at Bhajji as well as Musavir Khote, the last Mumbai man out even as he walked back to the pavilion."

Playing for the India A side in the Salve Challenger Trophy, he first sledged Virender Sehwag who had just hit him for four. “You hit like this only in domestic matches. How about some runs in international cricket?” An obvious taunt at a then out-of-form batsman.
A few overs later he had the temerity to go down the pitch and glare even at Sachin Tendulkar after beating him outside the off-stump. The next ball Tendulkar did what he does best: let his bat do the talking by hitting the bowler over his head for a six. But Tendulkar didn’t stop at that. He went up to Sreesanth and said, “Never ever come this close to me again.”

That is why you can believe that no one in the Indian team likes Sree Santh. That is why even the elder statesman of Indian cricket, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble are said to keep him at arm’s length once they are off the field and that is why even the young M S Dhoni, the charismatic limited overs captain had this to say in a column about the recent incident: “Before issuing any punishment, I hope the authorities check the actual sequence of events rather than just what the footage shows. It’s a lot like what happened between Zinedine Zidane and Marco Materazzi. What Zidane did was wrong, but Materazzi also was not completely in the right.”

If Dhoni, Tendu and Dravid have this opinion about Sreesanth then there is no way I want him representing India in cricket. First he is not that good that he goes to rile up players like Hayden and Symonds. Second, even if he was good, his behaviour against local players in IPL just puts me off. It was all fine and well the first time he danced on the pitch after hitting Nel for a six, that was good stuff but now set an example, drop him from the team. We need aggressive players on the Indian team but that of the mindset of Dhoni and not the stupid-aggressive type of Sreesanth.

Full article: A slap for Sree Santh and Engineer too?