And Your Point Is?

The Rising x 2

2005-08-15T16:33:00.000-07:00

Watched The Rising to mark my Independence day celebrations. Although it is certainly worth watching (once), I left the cinema untouched by the infantryman's heroics: not in realistic terms, but on dramatization. The screenplay was much to be desired and the songs and background score were disappointing. Toby Stephens seemed to have had a better chance to perform than Aamir. Dialogues were crisp and just about manages to hold the scratchy screeplay. Special mention should go the camerawork and choice of locations, some of them breathtaking. Nonetheless, it was personally gratifying to have watched the first war of Indian independence on Independence day. The movie is not without controversies. Already there seems to be some opposition here in the UK about the historical accuracies. THe UK film council, one of the major sponsors rightfully has chosen to fund a movie by quality rather on political correctness.

The other notable rising, this time not against the English, is the exponential growth of the English Cricket team. Anyone who has watched the Ashes series so far would'nt disagree with my understatement. They seem to have the Aussies tightly cornered and I would bet the Ashes would change hands after the 16 year wait. 20,000 fans were turned away today at Old Trafford and that speaks volumes about the growth in the interest in Cricket in England. However, some locals still dont get the hang of cricket. One of my colleagues asked me at the end of today's match, "Who's won?". "It's a draw" I replied. "Play for 5 days and all you get is a draw ?!". May be she has got a point.

If pigs can fly

2005-08-05T02:30:00.000-07:00

"I would rather watch paint dry" said my colleague when I asked if he had seen day 1 of the 2nd Ashes test between England and Australia. "Poor soul, could you not do anything better on your hols" he asked.

For me, it was a fantastic display of attacking cricket. Strokeplay at its best. The drama unfolded with McGrath slipping over a cricket ball during warm up which brought a visible smile in Michael Atherton's face when he was doing the pitch report. With dampness predicted and the seam movement to go with it, Ponting did'nt hesitate to take the field after winning the toss. That was the only good thing to happen to the Aussie skipper in the first 2 hours of the game. Trescothick and Strauss played a faultless first hour and the run-rate soared over 5. The demons in the pitch had disappeard straightaway. The pitch was dry and lacked bounce. Geoff Boycott was at his sarcastic best under the microphone, and whenever Michael Slater said that the Aussies could bounce back, "If pigs can fly.. yes" came the reply.

To rub more salt over the wound, the best part of the day was the blistering partnership between Flintoff and Pietersen, who I think will be the heros of cricket in the years to come. They assaulted the Aussies and often no bowler was looking up to Ponting, for fear of being asked to bowl. Watching 400 runs being amassed in one day! I certainly could'nt have done anything better. I'm going to tune in today right from ball 1.

Catch the superstar interview

2005-06-28T12:09:00.000-07:00

Although Vijayakanth's new movie in making, "Swadesi" is making some headlines, it is Rajinikanth who's stealing the show. The successful run of Chandramukhi, has once again got the tamil weekly's to gag with a series of interviews. Rajinikanth is at his natural best in the interviews and those who have'nt got access to these mags can catch the interviews here

Vikatan interview
Kumudam interview

Now, back to Captain. His new venture "Swadesi" went to the floors today and the captain spoke his first dialogue "I will do what I say". Sounds familiar?

Hang on, hey Chakra, are'nt you the one to be broadcasting the Captain's pursuits?

Yet another blogging platfrom Yahoo 360 is now live. Didnt think I enjoyed my trial blog post in there. Well that may just be me... so give it a go

Changing Lives

2005-06-24T12:21:00.000-07:00

It always nice to start on a clean slate. And finally my first post.

Couple of things that made me write this one. Being an avid blog reader, came across "Parivaar" , a charity for abandoned children, whilst reading Chakra's blog. Hats off to the heart behind this venture. More heartening was to know that another blog reader, after coming to know of Parivaar, has decided to adopt a child from them.

On the same note, I met a friend of mine, here in the UK, after a while. Whilst catching up with his endeavours, he mentioned, "...BTW ...I've started this charity....for helping children suffering from leukemia, who are admitted to the Institute of Child Health, Chennai."

Following Chakra's example, I thought I should bring this noble project to light. The charity is called "Idhayangal" (meaning "hearts" in tamil) and is registered in Scotland. It aims, as mentioned earlier, to fund poor children with Leukemia, to obtain necessary chemotherapy. Further information is available at www.idhayangal.org

Well.. thats one (and only) good deed for today. There's more to share about the other small things in life.. but the biggest things of all is to change lives...of someone else for a change.

P.S Not all my posts will be philosophical