Is it emeregence of Newton's Third Law?

An eye for eye is one of the oldest proverbs. This sounds good IF AND ONLY IF it is put into practice in a movie. A hero trying to take revenge on someone provides the necessary masala and an element of thrill, but movies should be the only place where the above said proverb should be put into practice.

It’s kind of disturbing to hear the word HINDU TERRORISM flashed across all channels and papers. Historically Indians are known for their tolerance and kindheartedness, though there have been very few incidents which do not support this statement. Any religious outfit playing its hand in terrorist activities is a cause for worry.

One thing about the whole incident is the word HINDU TERRORISM that gets mentioned in every sentence that is being reported on TV or on paper. With the kind of media explosion that India has witnessed over the last few years and with all the news channels and papers targeting the same story, this was the only word that I could hear across the media. This whole incident is blown out of proportion by media and few so called secular parties in India. News story around this will definitely help them raise their TRP and viewership, but at the other end this will also create hatred amongst different communities. With some many anti Indian outfits conducted blasts at will across India, a mentioned of terms like HT will kindle them for conducting more such activities.

This new word HT is mentioned just weeks after India’s “Most Powerful Lady” issued statement that terrorist are not from any single community and that you cannot associate terrorism to any particular religion. Well if that’s view of the most powerful lady in Indian politics, then I simply fail to understand how her own party members are endorsing this word coined by media. I am just left to wonder if this is what people call cheap politics. The only reason I can think of as to why the “secular parties” are using this word is for the simple reason that BJP and its allies seem to be better prepared to face the forthcoming elections. Hence it seems as though this is an attempt to reflect terror on the BJP. Its surprising to hear this new word of terrorism because, after so many evidences that proved attacks across the country were carried out by few association which are inclined towards one particular community/philosophy never did we hear a word “isl@#^&* terrorism” mentioned in the India media.

Let’s wait till the investigation is complete. But if it is proved that this act was carried out by a group as suggested now, then it’s a cause of worry. If that’s the case then it is the emergence of Newton’s Third Law which is not healthy for India. Let’s all pray that it’s not true and even if it is, let this be last time.

RJ

Longest blogging.. ooops scribbling break.

It’s been nearly 4 months since I wrote my last blog. Probably this is the longest blogging break ever since I started scribbling a year back. There have been quite a few interesting events in this 4months of hibernation.

Initially I thought I will put down couple of lines about each of those in this blog, but then decided against that and I guess I will write in detail about each of them later. Just to get back into the groove of writing I will be scribbling on the week long hibernation that I managed to squeeze in last week in Chennai.

Over the last 3 weeks work and home had almost merged as I ended up working on Saturdays and holidays. The only reason I went home during that period was because my workplace didn’t have a room for me to hit the bed. Though those 3 weeks were physically taxing, it was a great experience in terms of the exposure I got working with few senior management people.

Last week though I managed to slip off from work and spend some quality time at home with my folks. When you are working at a place away from your house even one or two days you spend at home makes you feel good. But 5 whole days at home is a real luxury and I managed to have that last week. 5 days away from computers and work was a real relaxing experience.

Last 5 days at home were essentially spent catching up with few recently released Tamil movies, enjoying Mom’s food , spend some real quality time with my lil sis and visiting few temples in and around Chennai. Most enjoyable part was Mom’s food which was of top quality as always :)

With my sis getting into the crucial and busy time of preparing for her class 12 board exams this year, I guess this would be the last time, when I can spend some quality time with her before her exams. So in that sense this trip back home was very rewarding.

Of the movies I watched I think Saroja was the best amongst the lot. Though labeled a thriller this movie scores because its humor. The best part of the whole movie watching experience was the timing of the comedy scenes and the unexpected scenes in which they appeared. Generally comedy scenes are forcefully injected into the movie but the ease with which they formed a part of this movie was simply amazing.

On a whole this small break in Chennai was the best I have had in the last 2 years when I have been away from home.

Dasavatharam - Butterfly Effect & Kamal the great

I watched Kamal’s Dasavatharam last Friday. I went into the movie hall after hearing/reading only 2 comments/reviews about the movie by people who had watched it. Either they said its great watch,in tune with a Hollywood with all the special effects or that they didn’t expect this kind of a movie from Kamal, a spoiler from Kamal, waste of money.

There were few of my close friends who asked me not to waste my time by watching the movie. Being a ardent fan of Kamal I decided to watch the movie irrespective of the feedbacks I got from them. This blog post is not a review of the movie, its just what I feel about the movie. I might not even discuss about anything like the story, music etc. as I dont think I am an expert to write reviews.

There would be no doubt in anyone’s mind that Kamal is probably the best actor in the country. His acting skills are impeccable and the emotions that he brings on to the screen clubbed with the body language of the characters are just awesome. But sadly in this movie though the body language is great as always for the different characters the emotions don’t come out well as they get lost under the thick makeup that 6 of the 10 characters. My favorite characters in the movie are the first avatar Nambi, the funny RAW agent and the rugged Fletcher. This I think is the opinion of the many who have watched the movie. I also liked the characterization of of Vincent Poovarag and best of the lot would be Bush.

The theme of the movie is Butterfly effect or Chaos Theory. Kamal the story writer would have done lot of research and brain storming sessions before coming out with the final draft of the screen play, which is evident in the way every character jumps in with those small events which carry greater consequence at the end of the movie.

Kamal movies have always been critically acclaimed but don’t go that well with the mass ( read box office) as most of them claim they don’t understand the message he tries to bring out. Classic examples of this are movies like Kurudhipunal, Hey Ram and Anbe Sivam. But in this movie I think Kamal had consciously decided not to make that mistake again and come out with a story that will reach the masses.

To bring out a story with a theme of Chaos Theory and also make it reach the masses Kamal has done a great job. But what people like me expect from Kamal is not a movie for the masses but a classy movie, as Kamal is associated with class and not mass. May be had Kamal come out with a movie like many of his earlier ones, which get a great reception among the so called “A Class” audience I think the movie would have been spectacular with Kamal stamp written all over it. But considering the budget of the movie had he made a movie for the A Class the producer would have gone bankrupt.

Another thing that might not work in favor of the film is the expectation. With news that Kamal dons 10 avatars I think people expected equal importance to all the 10 roles. But the very nature of the story is about the minor in- consequent events that lead to a major event. In that sense Kamal has done a great job is not giving importance to all the roles in a big way and just using most of the avatars to get the movie going with small events that finally had a huge impact. Be it the 12^th century event which he claims caused the Tsunami after 800 years or the old lady who throws the viral into the Statue of the Lord thereby making sure Fletcher doesn’t get it or the character of Vincent who saves Asin & Kamal from the sand Mafia, these are all great work of how in-consequent events which had a great effect later on.

As I mentioned earlier all the reviews and comments were opining only 2 thoughts, but I came out taking the middle path "it wasn’t bad nor was it great", definitely worth a watch. With all the great special effects in the movie it would have been a great watch only if someone other than Kamal had acted. Just that it is Kamal the expectations were more. For all the hard work Kamal has put in, if the movie flops I think the blame should be put on only one thing "EXPECTATION".

But we should appreciate Kamal is trying to tell a story based on complex theory like the Butterfly Effect in a simple manner to audience who are used to movies with 5 songs, 6 fights, heroism, punch dialogues etc..

As I didn't want to elaborate on the 10 roles and the significance of them in the movie or butterfly effect, I have added few links for people who didn’t understand the link:

http://sathyaphoenix.wordpress.com/2008/06/18/dasavatharam-the-link-between-the-12th-century-and-21st-century-avatars/

http://ravis.wordpress.com/2008/06/17/dasavatharam-trivia/

RJ

Date with Jeff Archer - Bangalore visit

Last Friday I had the opportunity to meet one of my favorite authors. As part of the tour organized by Landmark, he was here at Bangalore Landmark on the 23rd. This event witnessed a huge gathering. The event was supposed to start by 7 Pm and well it did start on time. But book lovers had gathered at the venue well before 6.Since it was raining heavily that day, I was of the impression that not many would turn up. But to my surprise there was huge gathering even by 6.50 when I stepped in. I had to stand right at the end of the hall to get a glimpse of him.

Evening started with a very hilarious speech by Lord Archer before he answered few questions from the audience. Then he sat down to sign copies for huge number of fans who had queued in. I was one of them and had to stand in a chaotic queue for about 45 minutes before I could get a copy of his latest book signed. He did sign each one of those copies with a smile and with the huge queue like that one I guess he would have done it till well past midnight. I was worried that I might get nothing more than a few strokes scribbled on my copy as I guess I was the 300th guy to get one. But surprising it was as clear as his first one. I did mention this to him while getting my copy signed, for which he thanked me by getting up from his chair :). I should confess that I was moved by this gesture of him.

Couple of things that struck me about him right throughout the evening was his humbleness and the witty way in which he put each sentence and word through. Though I have read a lot about his interest about cricket I came to know the passion with which he follows the game. He is an ardent fan of Sachin, Dravid, Gavaskar and Kapil.

He said he had come across the name of R.K. Narayan a lot on this tour and decided to get his hands on some of his books. Said he loves R.K.N's work and that he has already read 5 books of his in the last 5 days. The author was also critical about lack of education, our indifference towards politics. Also his experience on his first tour to USA to promote his "Kane and Able" was very funny.

Though his entire speech was enjoyable few quotes from his speech that I can recall:

"20-20 is not cricket, its entertainment. Cricket is Laxman and Dravid surviving an entire day against Australia", when asked about his view on IPL.

"I am like Shane Warne, leading and winning with a bunch of hopeless", when one of them asked whom he considers to be his biggest competitor.

Financial crisis made me write my first book ironically I named it “not a penny more not penny less”.

"The way they (Indian cricket team) behaved in Australia, when touring abroad, they are the best ambassadors,"

"He is a genius" on R.K.Narayan.

“In my view Shakespeare is the greatest story teller of all times, if we didn’t know the end of Romeo and Juliet we would be in the edge of our seats."

“Though my first book will always be close to my heart, this book (A Prisoner by birth) is the best work of mine so far."

“In US and UK one book purchased book is read by 3 people, in Australia 7. In India its 25, I don’t know if this tells anything about the economy of the country, but most of the comments I get on my website are from Indians."

RJ

Glory Glory ManU

The very first match that I watched on my new TV wasn’t an enjoyable one. This because of the way Chennai SuperKings lost to Bangalore in the IPL match. But that sad beginning was over compensated with the magnificent victory of Manchester United in the Chanpions League finals.

What a season this has been, full of excitement, fun and tension. This is probably the best season I have watched till date. Till December Manchester United were number 2 in the league and then came the slide of Arsenal to give us the advantage and take the top of the league. In December no one would have thought that it will go down to the last game of the season and that too fighting against Chelsea who were a distant third in standings then. But finally we made it on the last.

Thinking about the season everyone is happy for Ronaldo, heaping praise for his game. Rightly so his performance was what stood out, overshadowing the contribution of the other players in the team. Man Ronaldo was fantastic this season no second thoughts about that. But for me the best player of the team is Rooney, though its just marginal but in my opinion Rooney was the best player of the season and then comes Ronaldo.

When Rooney first landed at Old Trafford he had the reputation of being arrogant and selfish in the game. He used to be one of those guys who used to shoot as soon as he gets the ball around the D area. But in this season and the last he has transformed himself a lot, in a way that he is happy to play a supporting role, which allows Ronaldo to get in. Now going by the goals scored Ronaldo is miles away from Rooney, but looking at the overall game in my view Rooney is on par with Ronaldo, may be even inches ahead of him. If only there would have been a system like in Basketball where the rebounds and assists are also tracked I think Rooney would have scored more than Ronaldo. The way he set up the shot in the 35 min and 42 min last night is a classic example of what I am talking about.

Last night game was an edge of seat thriller that was in balance till the last kick. Happy that ManU clinched a double this season and hopefully they should continue to dominate the league and the cup next season too. Hopefully Sir Alex will also be the driving force behind ManU for at least another 3-4 years.

RJ

Minority Report

Reading through a news article couple of days back I felt really silly rather than surprised or shocked. This article talks about the current Government planning to post only Muslim Officers in Muslim dominated areas.

Before writing my view on a decision like this let me first paste few lines that I gathered from the net:

The preamble of the constitution defines India as a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic.

In India (80.5%) are Hindu. Other religious groups include Muslims (13.4%), Christians (2.3%), Sikhs (1.9%), Buddhists (0.8%), Jains (0.4%), Jews, Zoroastrians, Bahá'ís and others. Tribals constitute 8.1% of the population.

Well the above two lines is what India is or at least what it is supposed to be on paper. This is a question that I have been asking many for the last so many years: "how can a country that is socialist also have various divisions based on caste and perks for a specific community. From my understanding socialist means equality and when there is equality then there can be no division in terms of caste or any such thing.

Anyways getting back to the issue, this decision/plan of the Government will be no surprise for someone who goes through the paper daily. Over the last few years since the UPA government has come into power there have been many such incidents targeted on the upbringing of minorities. No problem with that, the only problem is that in this current Government’s dictionary the word to the right of minority has always been Muslims. If you look at statistics the majority amongst the minorities in India are Muslims. Still the Government just want to concentrate on this majority. By statistics the Christian population in India is only about 10% of that of Muslims. But have we ever heard of anything for them, when they are one of the real minority.

Right from the Sachar committee to other benefits or programs that the UPA have introduced, they have all been targeted at Muslims. One need not have to be a scholar to understand the simple reason behind this “VOTE BANK”.

From whatever you have read here so far you might think that I am Anti Muslim or one of those guys who hate minorities. But please stand corrected, I am not anything that I have said in the previous sentence. All I am is a peace loving citizen who wants the country to be free from any divide or inequality. Am also a keen follower of politics, which is why it irritates me when the Government, which is supposed to be a role model for the aspiring politicians plays few games for the benefit of the vote bank. Guess one should be reminded that, we were all taught in the school that every person in this country is equal and that no caste or religion is superior to another.

So this kind of a strategy by the Government will only make more and more communities realize that being separate is rewarding and, at the minimum, it protects their temples and educational institutions; and to be among the majority means loss of religious and cultural freedom.
RJ
follow these links:
http://www.rediff.com/news/2006/dec/11sachar.htm?zcc=rl

http://www.newindpress.com/column/News.asp?Topic=-97&Title=S%2EGurumurthy&ID=IEM20080414220910&nDate=4/15/2008&Sub=&Cat=&

Defunct Drive-in

Few weeks back while I was in Chennai, I had to accompany my sister to a music concert near Gemini Flyover. I was given 2 options by sister; either attend the concert for 30 minutes and leave or drop her and come back after an hour. I happily chose the second option, this not because I didn’t want to attend the concert but because I had Woodlands drive in mind.

I dropped her at the venue and was headed to Woodlands Drive-in Restaurant. I was shocked to see the gate closed and a board of "Agri-Horticultural Society” in place of Woodlands drive-in. When I inquired with the security guy at the gate, he informed me that the gates of the Drive-in restaurant were closed for the public from April 12, and that the land that was leased had been taken back by the government. Ooh damn I was a week late, if only I had gone a week before I could have had something to eat one last time.

Woodlands has been one of the most prominent land marks of Chennai for ages. It’s sad to know that it will no longer be available for public. Woodlands is (or rather was) situated in the heart of the city bang opposite to the US Embassy. It’s a lovely place that cannot be replaced. Where else can you get a place situated in the heart of the city, filled with trees? It was filled with so many trees that you felt you were in a different city once in. It was one of my favorite hangouts in Chennai, probably would be right up there if you would ask me for my fav. places in Chennai.

It was not only about the delicious Sambar vadas, curd vadas, idly, dosai, and chole batura (infact all the items served there were good), but it was more about the place itself. The place was very peaceful isolated from the Chennai traffic and heat that all Chennaites are accustomed to. There have been many occasions when i used to get into the place to just relax myself under coolness of the big banyan tree. The best thing about the whole place was that you could order for just a plate of idly and still sit there in the restaurant for hours together.

Most of the Chennaites would tell you that their Sunday morning routine would be to go some temple followed by breakfast at either Woodlands, HSB or Rathna Cafe. It is a place that has given a lot of happy memories.

They say that in US many the business deals happen over a cup of coffee at Starbucks. This place was the Chennai substitute for Starbucks. Through the day you could see lot of salesmen all exchanging leads with one another. Last year while I was doing my summer internship, I happened to get few good leads talking to the other salesmen there.

Probably the next time I go to Chennai I will try to sneak in and get a picture taken. It is sad to know that a place that was part of Chennai Tradition will vanish forever now.

RJ

Internet Newspaper???

It’s been nearly 3 months since my last blog. This is not because of the lack of topics to write on, but the lack of appreciable time I spent in front of a computer. Today I have some time in hand to kill and thought may be will scribble something.

A colleague of mine was browsing through the website of a popular Indian Daily and in course of the conversation said that of late he has stopped reading the newspaper and tracks the stories more on the net.

When I was asking others if they do the same they came up with mixed responses. But on a whole everyone said they don’t spend the same amount of time with the newspaper that they used to do maybe 3 or 4 years back. One reason for this might be because of the fact that, we spend more time in front of the computer at our work place or even at home.

I recall the time when we had dial up connection in my home till about a year back. The connectivity used to be so slow that I used to get irritated waiting for my mail box to open. In a situation like that opening a news site was out of question. Now that we have decent enough broad band speed we don’t think twice before logging onto a news site.

But I feel these news sites can’t give you the pleasure that you derive from reading a news paper while sipping a cup of coffee. One thing that everyone or at least most of us do, after getting up in the morning is to search for the news paper. I feel something missing in the day if I don’t happen to browse through the newspaper in the morning. The first happy moment of the day comes to me when I get my hands on the news paper after having to wait for my father to finish it and keep it back on the table.

I tried doing away with news paper while I was in my B-School, since I had access to both laptop and internet connectivity in my room. I used to log on to a news site as soon as I get up, but it never gave me the satisfaction that I used to get reading a news paper. The touch and feel factor of a news paper is more of an experience that cannot be substituted.

I too agree that the time we spend with the news paper has considerably decreased over the last few years. But that’s because of our increased exposure to the computer and ever increasing choice of news channels on TV. Almost all the news papers have started with the concept of e-paper, but I doubt if it’s a success.

RJ

Whacked them at WACA

Last Saturday afternoon just about time for my next class, the expected which was unexpected 4 days ago happened. Yes its India winning the match against the Aussies in their own den Perth. While we started celebrating the victoryalmost immediately after RP Singh cleaned up the last man, one of the Aussie supporter here quickly prompted “guys we have won 16 tests in a row and its just one test you guys won and you are celebrating as though you won a championship”. True its just one test but considering the venue and the time at which it came by its no less than a championship victory. I reluctantly left for my class after that wicket without watching the presentation ceremony.

People always like to see the under dogs win. Though Will Smith has given few big box office hits everyone talks about his performance in “In pursuit of happiness”, that because it wasn’t expected. Also we feel sorry for him for not have won the Oscar for that performance, the same way we will feel sorry for India for not have won the Sydney test or atleast to have drawn it. Before the start of the match I like most of us here, I prayed for a drawn match as I/we thought that’s the best possible result India can hope for considering the history and nature of WACA wicket.

After so much of both on field and off field action in Sydney test its really a great victory for India. Its not the first time in the series that India has dominated the Aussies. We have been doing that in all the three test only to loose the initiative some time later, thanks to both the way the team played and other things that team didn’t have much control on. But this time they were not ready to loose the initiative and went on to build on, to script the most unexpected.

Before the start of the match many of the Aussie players had given a statement that the match would not last for more than 4 days and damn yes they were right.

One man who should be praised is the captain himself Anil Kumble. The way he rallied his men both on and off the field was simply fantastic. Being an ardent fan of Jumbo I have always liked the way he played his game “no fuss, no buzz, just business”. Looking at the way he has performed as a captain one just wonders why he wasn’t made a captain much before.

Lot of commentators during the match had commented that India- Australia test series is shaping into the next big thing after India Vs Pakistan series. But now since India and Pakistan are playing series on a regular basis its just about loosing the shine and India Vs Aus series is proving to be the best in the world. With India being the only opponent capable of defeating Australia in recent times it’s the best contest in cricket right now.

With the fight India has shown in this series one hopes they continue with their win to add one more in Adelaide.

RJ

People's Car - making the impossible POSSIBLE

The last blog I had scribbled was some time back and I had written about the TATA’s super computer. The first blog I am writing this year also happens to be about TATA , but this time around its not the super computer but a “super simple” car NANO.

Couple of days back TATA had unveiled its much awaited Rs. 1 Lakh car. It’s been in the news for nearly 4 years now ever since TATA announced its plan to build such a car. Much was talked about the car and both the industry people as well as the consumers were eagerly waiting for it to be released. There were very few takers for a concept like this. Most of us baring a few actually believed that this could be made.

Many people from industry came out with statements on the dream of Mr. Ratan Tata to build such car and why it will remain only as a dream and never see the market. There were even media reports that it will look like an Auto Rickshaw without doors. Reading all this I had imagined a design in my mind (being a mechanical engineer I had visualized more than one design, most of them no where resembling a car). But to the surprise of all TATA launched a car that by all means not only looks like a car but also looks attractive.

I first happened to see the pictures of the car in website during the lunch break I had between classes. Since I hadn’t slept the previous night and was a bit tired I first thought that I read a news article about the car and that the picture is of some other concept car. But a careful look at it the second time made me sit up and read the article more carefully. As I had already said I hadn’t imagined in my wildest dreams that the car would look like what it is.

I think one should thank TATA for keeping the common man in mind and creating a car that is supposed to be the cheapest in the world. Now that TATA has proved that it is possible to manufacture a decent car priced at Rs 1 Lakh, I think the market will be witnessing the launch of more such cars.

In recent years I have not been such a great fan of the TATA group as such, but looking at the vision and the commitment in bringing NANO I am sure to change my view. With TATA almost assured of bagging the Jaguar deal, if that comes through it can now target both ends of the spectrum. If the “ Law of unintended consequences” hold good this NANO will not only end the dreams of a common man owning a car but will also make way for India finding its way on the Global Manufacturing Arena. Right now China holds a huge portion of the global manufacturing outsourcing and is rightly called the manufacturing hub of the world. With efforts like this India is sure to cut into a considerable portion of the manufacturing pie.

Every Indian owes a Royal Salute to Mr.Ratan Tata for dreaming of a thing like this and more importantly giving shape to the dream.

RJ