Singara Chennai or Pizza Chennai

There used to be the cliched statement about culture shock when folks visited US from India. But the last couple of trips in 2 years has made me realize that we are facing a reverse culture shock, atleast it was the case for this tayir sadham (yogurt rice) boy who grew up in singara (beautiful) chennai.. Here is the ramblings about singara chennai or pizza chennai....

If we wanted to have fun it used to be besant nagar beach basking in the fresh air,
now its the coffee house, sipping some random tasteless coffee

Shopping used to be Pondi bazaar and ranganathan streets
now its nothing but the malls

Playing cricket in the evenings in every small street corner with the rubber ball,
now its playing online cricket on the computer

Diwali days used to begin at 3 AM, bursting the oosi vaedi, bijili, 1000 waala,
now its checking the clock and celebration happens in silence

We used to sing baratiar songs about "namadhu naadu" (our country),
now we have the US flag in our movies and in the attire

It used to be, sitting in the tea stall with 5 ppl sharing one soda and a puff,
now its the internet cafe chatting with a guy posing as a girl

And finally, If you wanted to take a girl for a date, it used to be in a nice restaurant
now its subway ??? (This is one thing i can never understand)

I can go on and on.. How the dosa and has become a pizza, the filter coffee has become a starbucks coffee, the ambassador has become a hyundai, the sweet has become a cookie, the friendly smiling faces have become yahoo avtars, the hands on the shoulders among friends have become SMS messages, the smiles have become emoticons, the innocence has become style, the singara chennai has become a pizza chennai...

Irony of Sivaji

For the next few minutes as I write this, I am trying my best to compartmentalize my brain and not think like a talaivar fan.

Couple of days back I saw Sivaji, which was about Black Money. Shankar like his previous movies tries a very good and relevant topic. I have always wondered do these movies have any effect on the way of life. The cliched statement goes, we got to start some where. So as it is said in the end of Sivaji movie, "let the dream come true". But here is a very interesting observation about the movie, the movie is about Black Money. The tickets for the movie are being sold in black. I have always wondered when directors talk about social causes, are they doing it from a commercial perspective or do they really believe in it. The test is in the pudding. So if someone is really serious about the cause, I would imagine they would first lead by example and second ensure that their service is not subjected to such attrocities.

Lets analyze the next piece of information, within 15 minutes of opening of sales, the tix for the first 2 weeks were sold out. Now realistically speaking it is not possible for a human being to issue so many tickets in 15 minutes. This obviously means, tix are being held for being sold in black later or for special groups, which is exactly what the movie opposes.

This reminds of a mythological story, where Lord Brahma grants special powers to a person that the head he touches with his hands will burst to 100 pieces. You guessed it right, the first person he wanted to test it on was the provider himself :) Along the same lines, the tix for the first ever show of this movie is being sold in black.

Has movies become so commercialized?
Have we become so insensitive to what we see?
Do we lack the ability to do the right thing?
Has the Indian society degenerated to such low levels?

Whatever may be the answer its an irony to enter the theatre screening Sivaji.

Sivaji

I got 5 emails before I even returned from the theatre enquiring about the movie, the short answer to that question is

"Pera keatta udane chumma adhirudhu illa"

For the longer version. The movie is about Black Money. How the hero tries to be honest and then reaches rags and then fights back. Normal Shankar story, but the variable in the equation is One and Only Thalaivar. Its a mixture of Indian and Anniyan but only difference is ofcourse you know who. Thats the long version of the story, besides who cares about the story in a Talaivar movie.

You can imagine, Thalaivar reaching the streets and then decides to fight back, the look that thalaivar gives at those times, the dialogues and must I even talk about the style. From stylu style dhaan, thalaivar has a full song about his style, nadapadum style song...

Entry scene of talaivar is class apart and the dialogue about seeing talaivar's face, scene begining as usual w/ talaivar's walk... wow wow wow...

Talaivar's comedy as usual rocks, "Enna yaema karupa paeta" joke delivered by talaivar will make ppl roll in the chairs. Talaivar trying to make himself fair and eating red chillies, got to watch it.

Punch dialogues are coola, unfortunately we could not listen to every second dialogue, bcos I along with countless others would scream at the first punch dialogue.

Costumes of talaivar was great that we decided to mimic them, few of us were in blonde wigs with others in Talaivar T-shirt.

Music on screen and in theatre was great. There was variety of music, the nadapadum stle was beyond imagination. The theatre giving chorus music to the songs and to the movie was a worthy mention. The 20+ crores that was spent on this movie was probably on the songs, so you can imagine the sets for the songs.

Screen presence of talaivar was exceptional. We got to see talaivar in multiple get ups and doing all kinds of stunts. We had something similar to James Bond running action, just done much better bcos it was talaivar. We got to see some Matrix shots, and done in Talaivar style. So should I even say more, it was The BEST.

A side treat was the celebration before the movie. For those who are from chennai and have watched his movie in Albert the first day, it was similar, we had a pooja for thalaivar, special permission was got for breaking the coconut, we had arathi and prasadam.

On the whole a great treat for Talaivar fans. I screamed so much in the music I probably have lost my voice for atleast the next few days and I am sure I am not the only one.

We had other characters and I am not even going to talk about them, because the movie Sivaji is about "Sivaji" Rao.

Smell the coffee

India barely managed to pull of a victory over the Bangladesh team. Now lets see who scored, it was 100+ partnership between Karthik and Dhoni. Karthik would have made way for Sachin, had he been around. Sachin would have scored his customary 20 runs and we would have lost.

BCCI wake up and smell the coffee..

Does the word leadership mean anything?

Today I find the problems in the Indian cricket team more serious. If you look at the talent the team has physically unfit players, players who are past their prime in terms of agility, speed and maybe even mental toughness, the lack of a good coach who can get the best from the players. But these are problems that can be solved with training and getting the younger crowd, but is worrisome is something more serious. The team is scheduled to leave for Bangladesh and the board is unwilling to name a vice-captain? There is a lack of leadership. Like Murphy's law, Dravid is injured even before they have set foot on the plane. Where is the leadership, the team does not have a vice-captain?, the administrative leaders (BCCI) is unable to decide who should be the vice-captain, here is bunch of suits with no vision, be it interim or long-term for team India. Now these suits are going to blame the players for not doing the job. Leadership 101: Lead by example.

What if?

Yesterday I was having a discussion with my friend's parents about the healthcare system. They were praising the western world but scorning the healthcare system in US. I have my share of horror stories with the healthcare system, who doesnt, but here is the question that popped in my head. Mr. Bush, for whatever reasons is sinking all our tax dollars and more in a fight that has Vietnam written all over it. Now what if that money was spent on healthcare. Reminds me of the dialog from the movie, American President, "We have real problems and we need real people to solve it".

Should Sachin retire

Everyone seems to have an opinion about whether Sachin should retire. Well I do too :)

But what I find amusing is the guys who choose to say that. We find current Australian players stating that. Well ofcourse I would, if I was in their shoe. Here is an easy wicket. Just come and bowl full speed or should I say, chuck full speed and the master blaster will be out. Indians seldom know how to play under pressure and their demi-god is out, so life is easy for them.

Hey Aussies, I have news for you, with the current team setup, even if Sachin was dropped we will have more useless mumbaikars so no worries. The dream team is something of the past. Can someone explain what is Shastri doing as a coach? Why Dinesh Kaarthik was not included in the team? What is bhajji doing in the team? Well if you know the answer to the question you are smarter than I....

Outcry of a fan...

Two quotes stood out for me in the last few days as I read tons of article about what is going to happen to Indian players in the weeks to come. The first is the comment by Inzamam as to how we wants to give others an opportunity, which was a reason why he didnt play up the order and Kumble stepping down to give youngsters an opportunity.

I wish some of the other Indian players think of the same. I wish some of the other Indian players take note. You know who I am referring to. The greatest player ever to set foot in the ground, the best batsmen of the previous decade, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. Watching the games in India and in WestIndies. T'kar was clearly out of sorts. He could not handle quality bowling. He is clueless against leg spin. Above all, what worried me the most was the way he played the Bangladesh bowlers. He gave them so much respect. To compare him with Lara and Ponting today is a shame. It is heart breaking to see the respect he was giving inexperienced bowlers. I have only one comment to T'kar, heard of the proverb, taking the bulls by the horns. Ponting single handedly killed the career of Murli Karthik. He attacked from the word go, and put the bowlers on the defensive. Instead T'kar made the bowler grow in confidence and let himself shrink in confidence. We now know why Australia wins most of the games even before they set theit feet on the field.

The next player, Ganguly. He had a great comeback. He has the balls. He tried to attack really hard in all the 3 games. Unfortunately we were missing the vintage Ganguly. I would say Sourav, play test matches. Thinking of a coach, how about Ganguly. He knows how to motivate, he knows how to fight, he can inspire and above all he is a true leader.

Little said about Bhajji and Agarkar. I think we all know the fate of Bhajji. Welcome Piyush Chawla.

Sehwag: Well I sure hope they dont sack him today. He finally seems to be slowly returning to form after aeons. Dont throw away something after waiting for an unreasonably long time. This is not a sunk cost. We are starting to see returns.

Dhoni: Definitely drop him from the playing 11. He seems to be a Sehwag 1 year back, an undelivered promise. He sure has the potential, but I am no coach to be able to give him advice on how make him fire.

To hire a coach: If he can make Dhoni play, If he can identify his problem and coach him to deliver, I would say lets hire that person.

Captain: If Ganguly is in the team, who in my opinion, shdnt be, but assuming he is there, he would be a great captain, someone with the leadership skills to motivate the team. Otherwise I would say stick with Dravid. Too much is being said about whether he got the team he wanted or not. In my opinion, we dont have anyone to fill this role even though he is not the best. Against Bangladesh, he was clueless. He is a person who has not shown skills to think if things are not going per plan.

And finally as I write this I am reminded of how WestIndies visited India in 1983 and beat the crap out of the Indians, we lost 5-0 in one-days and 3-0 in Test matches. We are visiting Bangladesh in May. Can some one hear me....

Welcome

I finally enter the blogging world. Thanks for stopping by. Stay tuned for more posting.