Wednesday, December 03, 2008

ESPN sucks! (so does Texas)

Does anyone at ESPN really understand the meaning of a 3-way tie? The reason it’s named like that is because there are 3 teams involved. Apparently the dummies at ESPN don’t understand this or else why would they keep talking about the head-to-head matchup between OU and Texas and conveniently forget the fact that Texas Tech beat Texas. If neutral field is what counts, then every team should start playing their games at a neutral field, like in London or something, like how the NFL has a game or two there every year. For anyone who doesn’t know what this rant is all about, this is about college football. Long story short, Texas beat OU, Texas Tech beat Texas and OU beat Texas Tech. 
Now, the question is who goes to play in the Conference Championship and then to the National Championship game. Last week, OU was ahead of both the teams in the overall rankings, which was used to break the tie. Now, everyone (mostly at EPN) is complaining that Texas should have been ahead of OU based on the fact that OU lost to Texas at a neutral field (Dallas – some neutral field, huh?) while Texas lost to Texas Tech at Lubbock (away game for Texas). Oh yeah, Texas Tech was blown away by OU at home. Confused yet? So, according to the ESPN analysts aka MORONS, since Tech lost by a whopping 44 points, they are out of contention in a 3-way tie which makes it a head-to-head comparison between Texas and OU and since Texas beat OU, they should be ranked ahead. Are you f*#&ing kidding me? Why call it a 3-way tie in the first place, if that’s what you are going to do? 
Here’s my question: So, if OU loses this week at the Big 12 championship game, then which team should go to the National Championship game? Texas or Tech? Based on what all the experts (!?) are saying this week, shouldn’t it be Tech, since they beat Texas on a head-to-head matchup? Oh, now you want the overall rankings to send Texas to the final game? How pathetic is that? Atleast try to be consistent, you IDIOTS! If the focal point of your argument is the 'neutral field', then mine is '44 points'. That should be more than enough to nullify whatever advantage Texas had over OU. So, here’s the one thing I wish you’d all do: SHUT THE F@#K UP!!!

Monday, November 24, 2008

Vaaranam Aayiram

What could have been a really nice, heartwarming movie about a father-son relationship has been spoilt because of the smart-ass attitude of the director. What he and most of the Tamil movie directors need to realize is that if you can’t pack a powerful punch of emotions in 2 hours, you can never do it in 3 or 4 hours. It’s like how the Indian team used to claim that having 7 batsmen was going to win them matches, when they made Dravid the scapegoat/wicketkeeper! If you can’t do it with 6 batsmen, then forget it. Bad analogies aside, this movie is the best example of how the second half should not drag. Gowtham did it with Vettaiyaadu Velaiyaadu too.
The first half took me back several years, in fact more than a decade, reminding me of my relationship with my dad. I still remember when my dad took me aside (and away from my mom) and told me “I know you are going around with that girl, but don’t overdo it”. There were a also a lot of funny moments between Surya and Sameera Reddy, the girl he is madly in love with. More than the movie, the people who were sitting behind me were making me laugh out loud. When Sameera Reddy finally accepts that she has fallen in love with Surya, with the Golden Gate bridge as the backdrop, Surya immediately picks up a bunch of very small flowers from the grass and gives it to her. The girl sitting behind me tells her husband, “Paaru, avan evalo romantic-a poo eduthu kudukkaraan, neeyum irukkiye, enakku molaga bajji eduthutu vandhu kuduthe!” Before I could stop laughing, the husband goes, “Beach le bajji dhaane di kedaikkum, adhukku naan enna panradhu?” I felt like I was sitting in Abhirami theater for sometime there! Coming back to the screen that was in front of me, Gowtham definitely knows how to handle the little things between the lead pair without making it look cheesy. I can give him that.
During the second half, I don’t know about the other people in the theater, but my eyes were watering up for sure. WAIT! Before you make any judgments on my sensitivity levels, let me make it perfectly clear that I had tears in my eyes because I was all sleepy and I kept yawning non-stop. If you want to show a man’s journey through his successes and failures in life, you don’t necessarily have to take up half of our lives. Even one of the best movies of the last century, Forrest Gump, which coincidentally (!) deals with a man’s life journey, was only 2 hours and 22 minutes long.
Overall, the movie was good when it took us through the 70’s and the 80’s, started to slow down during the 90’s and finally limped it’s way to the end credits after 2000. Oh yeah, there's also the pathetic attempt at justifying the title at the end, by making Simran explain the meaning of Vaaranam Aayiram!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Adios Sourav!

No matter what you say about his technique against the short ball, he will always be one of my favorite cricketers. For some reason, I have always liked the cricketers most panned by the critics for technical and non-technical reasons. Examples from the past would include Ravi Shastri (yeah, laugh it up) and Azharuddin. I am going to try to write atleast a few words about Ganguly, without mentioning that clichéd saying about his off-side technique supposedly said by Rahul Dravid.
When you look at Ganguly he doesn’t look even a little bit aggressive. In fact he has this look on his face like a kid who just lost his parents in a carnival. He saves his aggression for when he bats. How many batsmen can step out to a fast bowler and dispatch the ball to the boundary like he does, without any apparent effort? Do I need to say about the way he handles the spinners? Don't even try telling me that he has his fifties and hundreds ONLY against the minnows. Well, what were the other big guns doing in the same match? Someone has to get a big score even against the weaker teams! I cannot think of a much better pair than Ganguly and Tendulkar to have opened the batting for any country and demolished the bowling attack like there was no tomorrow. The statistics prove that. It's was obvious that he slowed down a lot in the past 3 or 4 years, but he definitely had his fighting spirit intact. It showed in his comeback after being dropped from the team.
I had the chance of watching the last day of the test match between India and Australia. It was really heartening to see Dhoni handing over the captaincy to Ganguly after the 9th australian wicket fell. That man deserves it! Not everyone gets to leave on a high note, but Ganguly chose the right moment and the right series. Good-bye Ganguly, we sure will miss your well timed drives piercing a packed off-side. And for one last time, "On the off-side, first there is God, then there is Ganguly". Sorry guys, couldn't resist it!

Thursday, September 25, 2008

OU #1

Ok, USC just lost to an unranked team! Where is Jason White? May be he can apply for a 10th year of eligibility and take OU to the National Championship game!!!

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Burn After Watching


Subramaniapuram:
This must be the sleeper hit of this year. A simple story, lot of attention to details and a linear screenplay with lots of nativity are the highlights of this movie. The 4 (or 5) protagonists hide very well into their characters (and their beards) and amaze us with some casual acting. The story is not original by any means – unemployed youth being exploited by the local politician for his personal benefits – but the treatment given to it is original, with the early 80’s Madurai as the backdrop and a love story as the sidetrack, which would have looked completely stupid in any other movie. The director has made the job of making it look like the 80’s easier by confining the screenplay to a few streets, a couple of ambassador cars and a scooter. As I was trying to find the face behind the beards, two of them seemed very familiar. One was that comedian Ganja Karuppu who always has a beard. As I was pulling the rest of my hair out trying to figure out the other familiar face, it struck me halfway through the movie that he was that same guy from Chennai-600028, the one who moves from Royapuram and joins the rival team. I had no idea that he could pull a Chandrasekhar with so much ease. Yes, that’s who he reminded me of, the way he smiles whenever he sees his girlfriend, with his head shaking a little, he looked like a clone of the yesteryear hero Chandrasekhar. May be that’s what the director wanted from him. The music too was reminiscent of the 80's reminding me of some of Ilaiyaraja's best BGMs. If you get a chance to watch this movie, don't forget to burn yourself a copy.

Phoonk:
I don't know why I make the mistake of watching a Ram Gopal Varma movie again and again. I guess I don't learn my lessons that easily. Phoonk was advertised as the scariest horror movie ever and I even read somewhere that RGV announced he'd give Rs.5 Lakhs to anyone who dares to watch this movie alone. Of course, it came with strong recommendations from my friend Vaibhavi, who is my horror movie partner. Well, RGV has managed to make a stinker of a movie once again. The movie did not have a single genuinely scary moment. I have never felt so guilty about wasting almost 3 hours of my life. I don't know what else to say about this stupid movie other than RGV should do us all a huge favor and stop making movies anymore. If you happen to make the same mistake, do not forget to burn the dvd, literally!

Friday, September 19, 2008

Droh Kaal Vs Kuruthipunal

Watched Droh Kaal, the original version of Kuruthipunal a couple of weeks ago. I had major expectations, what with it being the source of one of the best Tamil movies ever made and having all the three people of Hindi Cinema - Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah and Amrish Puri - who can really act. I have only one word for this movie. DISAPPOINTED! At the end of this movie, I was so glad that Kamalhassan made this movie in Tamil.
I can still remember, when Karthik and I walked out of the theater after watching Kuruthipunal, I was trying hard to comprehend all the immaculate details and the realistic portrayal of the way terrorists operate, we met this friend of Karthik's from BITS, who had the guts to tell us that the dialogues were more powerful in Droh Kaal. If I had seen this movie then, I would have laughed my ass off. OK, I don't know how to speak Hindi, but I can understand most of it. I swear people, I am not the "Ek Gaun mein, ek kissaaaaaaan, raghu thaatha" kind of person! Kuruthipunal's intensity was mainly achieved by dialogues written by thalaivar. For example, "Veeram na enna theriyuma, bayam illadha maadhiri nadikaradhu dhaan. Un bayathai un kannule naan paathuten, adhai medhuva nithaanama veliye kondu vandhu unakke arimuga padutharen". There was not even a single dialague in Droh Kaal that was even remotely close to that.
Forget the dialogues. Let's compare the terrorist leader in both the movies. Aasish Vidyarthi looked innocent at best, to the extent of "Vaaile veral vecha kooda kadikka theriyadhu". Nasser's Badri on the other hand was more than an equal to Kamal's Aadhi. Right from the beginning, we know that Nasser couldn't be killed that easily and it's confirmed by Kamal's battles, both verbal and physical, with him.
Overall, Droh Kaal was inferior to Kuruthipunal is many aspects, including production quality, which was truly below average. Of course, star power helped the Tamil version a lot. I have only one thing to say to the guy who commented on my post "Who killed my favorite actor?": Watch the Original first and then you'll know how good the remake is. This is truly a case of the remake being a far better movie than the original.

Saturday, September 06, 2008

Nuggets

  • Love the new job despite all the negative things I heard about the place before I took the job. Guess it all comes down to the team that you are in and how cool your manager is.
  • College football is back and so are the sooners. Welcome back Bob Stoops!
  • Still don't care about the NFL.
  • Been playing tennis for the past 3 months and loving it.
  • Started playing cricket after 5 years and loving it more.
  • Want to do skydiving before the beginning of winter.
  • Planning to take snowboarding classes this winter. Hope I don't break anything.
  • Can't believe it's already a year since I went to India.
  • Still can't decide between Xbox 360 and PS3.
  • Want to change the title of my last post to "10 down 1 to go". Courtesy: Shiva

Monday, August 18, 2008

9 Down 2 To Go

I can’t believe I am at this stage of my life now. I wouldn’t be surprised one day if the strangers passing by me on the street start asking, “Why aren’t you married yet?” and tell me “YOU NEED TO BE MARRIED!” with a thick Indian Accent. Why this crazy obsession on marriage! As I start hearing some of the horror stories, the only feeling that’s gripping me these days is, marriage is probably not the right way to go. Almost all my friends call me to complain (that’s putting it in mild terms) about married life. I hear people say things like, “I wish I was still single” or “I would have done that in a heartbeat if I was still single”. Don’t give me clichéd statements like, “You won’t realize it until after 5 or 10 years down the lane”. So what if I am single when I am 40? I promise I won’t blame any of you for it!
Recently, I feel people just get married to fight off boredom in life or fear of being alone. Once you are close to the big 3-0, everyone starts feeling like they can’t be alone anymore and it just follows a preconceived pattern from there. Once you get married, you get bored of each other in a couple of years and decide to have kids. Some people don’t even wait; the guys just let their swimmers loose like Michael Phelps and wait for the inevitable to happen, like it’s some world record to be broken. After the first kid and all the sleepless nights that come along with it, they wait precisely for 3 or 4 years, or for the next Olympics to start so they can begin breeding again. It’s hard enough with one kid and imagine life with two kids. Where is the time for you and your so-called companion? I was also one of them, but right now I don’t feel like I need someone to share my life with. I am not in a position to follow this pattern. As if there aren’t enough people telling me to get married, my dad’s side relatives have joined in to have some fun. They keep sending me emails like, “Believe in Jesus and he will find the right girl for you!” When exactly did Mr.Christ start running a matrimonial service? There are more chances of a Hispanic guy named Jesus finding me a girl.
Despite all the things that I mentioned here, I am not against getting married at all but I can’t get married just for the sake of it and hope for it to work. I am starting to feel like marriage is totally overrated. Age doesn’t matter, at least in this country. After all, isn’t this the land of opportunities ;-)? After all this, I might do a 180 degree turn tomorrow and decide to get an arranged marriage or fall head over heals for someone. Again, it will solely be MY decision. When that happens, I am sure every single one of you will be there to say, “I told you so!”. Watch me give a damn then!

P.S: In case you are wondering, what the hell the title is about, the numbers refer to my close friends.

Thursday, July 03, 2008

WHO killed my favorite actor?

Kamalhassan - The name that used to make many of us look up and wonder what he is up to now, has apparently gone missing since the release of Kuruthipunal, way back in 1996. Thinking back, I find it hard to point out when I became his fan or even why. As I was watching Dasavatharam, I was searching for my favorite actor, but I couldn't find him. I do not mean that in a complimentary way. Sure, the movie was entertaining and not as bad as some people seem to think it is but I really couldn't see the Kamalhassan who donned 4 different roles just with the help of a beard, whacky sideburns, an accent and some amazing variations in body language, in MMKR. These days he has to resort to prosthetic makeup, amateur graphics and Jackie chan to even promote his movies. What he doesn't realize is, we as fans and non-fans, only expect the simpest of movies from him, like Thevar Magan. For me, that is the best Kamalhassan movie ever, with an original storyline and a neat screenplay without any flaws. Nayagan will always be a close second, because it wasn't really a complete Kamalhassan movie.
I still remember the days when I went to watch Die Hard with a Vengenace twice, just to see the trailer of Kuruthipunal. The trailer itself was so thrilling, and made you sit up and take notice. One of my friends from Peter's Colony, who is a big Rajini fan said, "Ot**, K.S.Ravikumar soo*** madhiri padam eduthurukaan da (referring to Muthu), Kuruthipunal chance-a ille da". It gave me so much confidence that Tamil Cinema is in good hands and it's going to go places. Of course, I could get tickets for kuruthipunal at the counter easily during the second week and tickets for Muthu were hard to get even outside the counter. Somewhere after that, the perfectionaist in Kamalhassan died. Hey Ram and Virumandi are indeed good movies, but they really weren't simple by any means. They were contaminated with his own idealogies and principles. That's when I realized Kamal can never make a movie as a neutral person. Have you noticed, in every movie of his, there has to be a peeing scene or a supposedly comedy scene where he/someone else gets hit in the crotch? If that's going to be your trademark, then it ain't going to help you get any critical acclaim.
I watched Salangai Oli pretty late, like probably 10 years ago. I couldn't belive the fact that he did not get the National Award for that. The scene where he does Bharathanaatiyam, Kathak and Kathakali for the same two lines of the song is enough to say what kind of an actor he is. Who hasn't cried watching Moondram Pirai? Sridevi dominates throughout the movie and then in the last 5 minutes, Kamal shows everyone why he got his first National Award. If anyone here brings up Indian as one of his best movies, I will definitely put my foot up your ass for saying that. I watched that movie in Satyam theater with my "baalya snehidhargal", Karthik, SP and Balaji. When the lights came on for the intermission, I was wondering what the hell kind of a movie is this and I heard Balaji say to Karthik, "He will definitely get a National Award for this movie". I didn't say a word and Kamal did win a National Award. I remember Kamal once saying in an interview, "If mediocrity is our standard, then we will never make high quality movies". Well, Mr.Kamalhassan, mediocrity is present everywhere in your movies these days, please don't make it a standard. I want a movie like Kuruthipunal and Thevar Magan. All I am saying is, keep it simple, instead of talking about Chaos Theory and Butterfly effect! I am already hearing that there's going to be a whole bunch of graphics for his next movie Marmayogi and it only makes me nervous.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Cheerleaders and 20/20

My buddy Shiva and I had a very insightful conversation about why cheerleaders look so out of place in cricket, despite the best efforts of Mr.Mallya and the Washington Redskins cheerleaders to make it look as sexy as possible. Here's what I think. American football is the manliest sport you can ever see in this world, with super-sized muscles and testosterone oozing out of every 10 yards on the field. When you watch something so manly, you tend to look for something that complements it, like for example, cheerleaders. They perfectly complete the circle by providing the necessary refreshments in between the grunts, helmet clashes and the pats on the back. Now, if you take Cricket or Soccer, it's not as testosterone-based as football, barring the headbutt by that French soccer player in the worldcup final. The manliest diplay I have ever seen in cricket is Venkatesh Prasad showing the dressing room to Aamir Sohail in the quarter finals of World Cup 1996. So, when you put a bunch of cheerleaders in the gentlemen's game of cricket, no matter where they are from, it only makes it look like a cheap stunt to get some attention.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Ninaithale Inikkum.

Bell bottom, thongu meesai and step cutting. That's Kamalhassan in Ninaithale inikkum. If you thought that was funny, then add Rajinikanth, sporting a french beard, as the guitarist with a compulsive stealing habit and you have the deadliest comedy combo. Can you even imagine Rajini calling Kamal "rascal" and "thalaivare" among the numerous "va da"s and "po da"s today? The movie can be easily classified as belonging to the MUSICAL genre, but it's a mix of comedy, drama, and of course musical. To even think of a musical band like this based in Madras/Chennai sends chills down the spine. Rajini clearly plays second fiddle to Kamal throughout the movie, but you can clearly see Rajini stealing the show in many scenes with his comic timing and the ability to take over Kamal in the form of a solo song. Kamal should have seen it coming. No wonder Rajini is always the unanimous No.1 and Kamal will always be the deserving challenger to the No.1 spot. Jayaprada was so cute with a boy-cut hairstyle, reminding me of my ex. The "Engeyum Eppothum" song is much better than the remix, without the jarring beats and the unwanted lines replacing that best part of the song. I think this is the best tamil movie to watch when you are drunk (or not). FUN is the only word to define this movie. I hope they don't remake this evergreen movie and spoil it.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Turkey-Mushroom Meatball

It's been quite a while since I cooked anything substantial. I have been too lazy to cook for myself since my mom visited me and then I was forced into an entended vacation in India for 2 months. Do I really have to explain what those things do to a single guy in the cooking department? Today I decided to make something good/deep fried/fatty to go with my 6-pack. Here we go:

Ingredients:
Ground turkey - 1 lb
Onion - 1
Mushrooms - 15 small ones (stem removed)
Gram Flour(Kadalai maavu) - 3 tsp
Ginger paste - 1/2 tsp
Green chilli - 4 small ones
Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Curry Leaves
Cilantro
Salt - appropriate amount

Chop the onions, green chilli, curry leaves and the cilantro really fine. Mix the ground turkey with the gram flour, the chopped ingredients, ginger paste, chilli powder and salt. Now we have a meat paste. Make balls (NO, not those balls!) with the mushrooms by rolling them in the paste until the mushrooms are completely covered. Here comes the best part: Deep fry these balls in medium heat until they become brown (a little on the darker side) in color all around. You can enjoy them with Maggi hot and sweet sauce or if you are the intense kind, with the chinese chilli sauce. OH BOY, it almost tastes illegal!

Never thought I'd live to see this day.

Z Khan b Ganguly 3 (8b 0x4 0x6) SR: 37.

13.1 Ganguly to Khan, OUT, cleaned up, Zaheer missing the line completely for off stump to be pegged back and Ganguly runs off in celebration and Ponting runs towards him and the two embrace ... now thats a sight, eh?

Now, imagine Steve Waugh instead of Ponting. That would have been a sight! The inaugral game of the much hyped and the highly anticipated IPL turned into a joke for the Banglaore Royal Challengers against the Kolkatta Knight Riders. They were royally screwed even before they started chasing, just by one man, Brandon McCullum. I can totally imagine Rahul Dravid walking up to him at the end of his innings and ask, "Thambi, nee saayangalam enna tiffin saapitte?". Cricinfo reports that the Chinnaswamy stadium was at it's full capacity. One should appreciate Vijay Mallya's business tactics in bringing the Washington Redskins cheerleaders for his team, but the same cannot be said about the captain's tactics. Who in their right minds would make Rahul Dravid and Wasim Jaffer open the batting in a 20/20 game, especially when they are chasing 222. Heck, I wouldn't want them to open even in ODIs. But then, who else could have opened? No one in the Bangalore team can exactly terrorize the oppostion bowlers. And, is that the same Sunil Joshi who used to play for the Indian team? Shouldn't he retired by now? I wouldn't be surprised if I see Sujith Somasundar in the next game. It's hard to describe McCallum's innings. Is it a display of pure power hitting or a mere collection of a bowler's nightmares in the form of a batsman. Whatever it was, I am sure Shahrukh Khan is a happy man. Now, I can't wait to see Mr.Dhoni, Mr.Muralidharan and a certain Mr.Hayden in action.

Friday, April 11, 2008

HOW?

Dei Karthik, how did you manage to get to 100 posts? I completed 4 new posts (including this one) and yet I have only 32. NAASAMA POGA!!!

Lost lunch

When I joined Avichi Higher Secondary School in Virugambakkam for my 6th Standard, I had no idea that my dad put me there just because he couldn't afford to pay the fees for a private school. I don't mean any offense to my dad, in fact if I had known, I would have dropped out of school and gone to work to save my dad from any embarrassing moments. Dramatic statements aside, this post is really about the hardships, if I may say so, that I went through from the late 80's to the early 90's. Those days, spending 30 minutes in a bus just to go to school was considered as an act of bravery. To add to it, I had to carry a lunch basket (plastic koodai) with a tiffin carrier and a water bottle that keeps the water cold for a long time. My mom would never compromise when it comes to food. Despite my begging her several times that I would just take a single tier tiifin box, she'd force me to take the 2-tier carrier, which had 'kozhambu' on the top level and white rice and some poriyal or kootu or varuval (fish or chicken) in the bottom level. My classmates would start drooling over my lunch bag the moment I enter the classroom as they soon learnt that there is always something fresh and hot in the small tower I carried, as opposed to the dry idlis and the lemon rice that they had in their bags. If not anything, my mom's cooking helped me make some new friends. By the time I managed to convince my mom that I am old enough to stop carrying separate lunch bags, I was in my 10th standard. Oh, to justify the topic, I would forget my lunch bag in the bus and get down. There were times when I didn't even realize that I lost it until the lunch bell rings. Good ole times!

Love

What happens to you when you fall in love? Is it just the hormones at work, is it really much more than that? Is there really anything more than physical attraction to love? Just because two people can live together, tolerating the nagging, the smells and the hairy bodies (both men and women), does it mean they are meant to be together? IMHO, it's all about the physical attraction that makes us sacrifice and compromise on everything else, whether it's a girl or a boy, a man or a woman, a dude or a chick. Dare to disagree?

YOU started it!

It may be hot, humid and conservative (atleast it used to be). It may boast of the stinky koovam as the next best thing to the Marina Beach, but hey, that's where home is and we don't START beating up people the moment someone says Water and Karnataka in the same sentence. I am glad I am from Chennai.

Monday, March 31, 2008

What's in a name!

I am so thankful to my dad for marrying a Hindu woman, despite coming from a devout christian family. I have heard the weirdest of names on my dad's side. When I say weird, I am talking about the combination of the first, middle and last names. Yes, they have all three names. Usually Tamilians don't realize they really have a last name until they come to the U.S. We always have our father's name as initial(s). I am sure if my dad had married a Chrisitian Nadar woman, I would have had a name like, Paul Pandiyan Ponnudurai or Praveen Joy Jacob. I don't have anything against those names, but my roomies in Norman would have had a field day with a name like that. I have cousins with names, Emerson Brittus Tamilarasu and Sobers Solomon Devasagayam. The culprit in the case of the latter, atleast for the first name Sobers, is my dad. He was a big fan of Gary Sobers - an all-time great of West Indies cricket - and he made sure that his nephew had his name. If you are wondering why there is a Hindu name sandwiched (or on the side) between two English names, it's all due to the fact that they are all converted chrsitians, probably converted 4 or 5 generations ago. They let go of the Hindu part but they still cling on to the Nadar part, which can be blamed for all the crazy permutations and combinations of names. Let me finish it off with a little secret: I was also smothered with a long name when I was baptized in a church in a remote village called Kalunguvilai in Thirunelveli, hoping that I would turn into a choir boy one day. Any guesses?

Monday, March 10, 2008

En thalai kodhum un viral ponadhenge
En imai varudum un swasam sendradhenge
En vizhi thedum un uruvam enge
En udal thedum uyirum ENGE?

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Take that, Aussies!

First things first. Aren't you really glad they put an end to the tri-series? I mean, it's really tiring to even watch that many matches before the final. Now, coming to the main event, KUDOS to the boys. For once we can call them boys, including Sachin (his voice, DUH!) without the exclamation mark. I really didn't think Dhoni could pull this off with a bunch of youngsters. Being a fan of Ganguly, I was a little upset that he was chucked out of the team to pave way for some relatively unknown players. I was secretly hoping that India would lose so we can see the GOD of offside back in action. Well, I guess all good things need to come to an end. I am sure Ganguly was sitting with a towel on his head as India entered the finals.
There was clearly a difference, compared to the Indian teams of the past. The fielding was better, the running between the wickets was better, and when was the last time we saw an Indian team with bowling as it's main strength. It will definitely be interesting to see what happens when Zaheer Khan comes back to the bowling lineup. Overall, they proved that they belong at this level and that it was no fluke. Dhoni was Mr.Cool as the captain. He did the right things at the right time. He also led from the front and showed them all how to bat when things are not going your way. That's not the typical Dhoni I have seen before this series. Of course, thank goodness Sachin was back in form when the team needed it the most. Can you imagine, he'd have close to 60 centuries just in ODI's if he had converted all his 90s into 100s? WOW, I mean, WOW! Those so-called critics, including Sanjay Manjrekar should just shut up and look for a different profession, if being a critic is indeed a profession.
And what's with Hayden calling Harbhajan an obnoxious weed on the radio? He also said, "I don't see them winning any matches!" HELLO!!! You should know when to shut up. Also, someone needs to tell Symonds that he is not special like he thinks he is. Have you ever seen him walk back quietly after getting out? He has to stare at the bowler or say something to him and then cries to the match referee that he is hurt by the bowler's comments. Here's something Symonds needs to memorize: What goes around comes around (and bites you back in your ass)!You know what? None of it matters now, because they are the ones with a huge L on their foreheads.
Finally, GOODBYE Gilly, we will definitely miss you! You even managed to make us laugh in your last match.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Anbu Malargalae...


















If this picture had a mouth (and may be a couple of eyes), it would cry out loud a la Nayakan Kamal, for being abused so much by me and my friends. This picture has resided in everyone of our hard disks, emails and now features in our Orkut photo albums. I decided to take this oppurtunity to be the first one to put this in a blog post, before someone else from the group gets this idea and takes away the honors.
The first one from left is Shiva aka shivudu. Whenever I show this photo to any of my gal pals, they would just drool all over him. Yeah yeah, my stomach is burning and there's smoke coming from my ears. Happy? He is a video game freak and I try to compete with him online, say once in 2 years. We had our share of good times (NO, not in Bheema/Brokeback Mountain style) when we were roomies. When it comes to long drives, he is the best wingman anyone could ask for. We once drove from Norman, Oklahoma to NYC to attend an interview at Bloomberg and then to Chicago for an interview at SBC, all in a matter of 4 days. By the way, it was only me attending the interviews and he was just here for moral support :-)
The second one is the person who disturbingly calls himself parupps. Enough of me!
Next is Ramanan aka ramsoi, who always gives me the feeling that we have been roomies forever, of course in a good way. He is the one who taught me that icecream shouldn't be eaten in small bowls but in buckets (I am sure you can see the effects of that on me in the pic). He calls himself a happy-go-lucky kind of person and I can't agree with it more.
And then there is Ajai aka jo, who is a gadget freak. He has to have the best of everything that is related to technology. I think he has locked his life into one of the gadgets he owns like how the villains in vittalaacharya movies have their lives in some parrot that lives seven seas and seven mountains away. I didn't know I was his best friend until his parents told me when they visited me in Chennai. I was like, 'OK, that is news for me!!!!!'
That 'out-of-focus' aasami is Bharani. He is the odd man for various reasons. He is my close friend since the Sathyabama days. I found it hard to come to terms with the fact that I am actually friends with such a brainy dude, when he causally showed me the paint-like tool he had created in DOS. Mind you, this was way back in 1996. In my opinion, he hasn't done enough justice to the talent he possesses, YET.
There are two other people who are not in the frame, but present at that time. They definitely deserve more than just a honorary mention. Meenakshi, who took this evergreen photo, prefers to stay behind the scenes all the time. He is too good a photographer and an avid fan of Ilaiyaraja's music. The last person who missed out on being a part of history is Chand. Like Bharani, he has been my close friend since my college days. We always end up fighting over silly matters, but we have managed to stay as friends through thick and thin. He introduced me to the exciting world of Raja Masala 5 years ago and I am still addicted to it. We can relate to each other on numerous things like Masalaboard ;) and "Ennadhu, Mahathma Gandhi Sethutara?".
This picture was taken in March 2002 during the spring break and it was one of the memorable times ever, thanks to Brian Lara Cricket-2001.
Thanks Meenakshi, for this wonderful moment, which MIGHT never happen again!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

AAAHA... kavidhai kavidhai...padi!

Kadhal tholvi enakku mattumalla
en veetu kannadikum dhaan
dhinam en bimbam adhil azhugiradhe!

P.S: Sorry Karthik, I couldn't resist posting it.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

nee ennai vittu pirindhavudan
pirandhadhu sogham mattumalla
indha kavidhaiyum dhaan!