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Well a few days in Miraj imply a lot of movies. Saw Krrish there.

For starters, I think Rakesh Roshan needs to be commended on this effort. I thought it was an admirable and rare attempt at sci-fiction from a Bollywood guy. If not anything else, the movie at least guarantees that you are seeing something out of the comman  faltu stuff dished out by Bollywood.

Now for the movie. Here we have Krishna running faster than  a horse, climbing huge trees and flexing huge muscles in a very secluded village in northern India. The boy has an exceptionally high IQ, but still is fooled by the para-glider, which he assumes to be  a kite!! Anyhow, it's fate. ;-)  Priyanka Chopra is the asmaan se tapki heroine. And she does look hot in the movie. Another plus.

Well the usual story unfolds and Hrithik is persuaded to come to Singapore to meet his lady's maa. There the bad guy, Naseer comes into the main story  Then comes the action. Append Batman+Superman+Matrix. stunts to the storyline. And then the final twist in the tale. Oh yes there is a twist.

I thought Hrithik does do well in the movie. Naseer as the bad guy gives a good performance as well. I personally got bored with the part involving Rekha. Instead of the traditional maa it's dadi maa . Some really corny dialogues between the two.

All in all a watchable affair.One time see. I hope the Roshans recover their money with this one.. As I mentioned earlier a creditable effort.

Oh and before I forget, whats with the in-movie advertising!! I mean for every possible scene they've advertised 1 brand or the other. An example, Priyanka Chopra is watching some stuff on the TV, munching Lays, with the brand name turned towards the camera for the viewer's benefit. There were many products which were advertised in this way.Some examples  which I clearly remember Tide, Great Bombay Circus, Hero Honda.

Tags: Krrish, Hritik, Roshan

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It was a lovely morning. It was drizzling ever so slightly. The bus left the stand. It took me one hour to get out of Pune. Reason: Some work going on in the Katraj tunnel. I take a sigh as I leave the city. I see familiar territory retreat. I see Sangli go by. I see Vishrambaug on the Miraj-Sangli road pass by. I watch with keen interest the changes that these places have undergone since I was a tot. Some very happy memories are associated with these places.Now the bus enters *Miraj.  

Screeech....the bus came to a halt suddenly. I craned my neck to see  the reason for the stoppage. Well it was a gadhav (donkey) !! Now it felt like I was in Miraj. I remembered how I used to tease my cousins about the abnormally high number of the beast in their town. I got down near the stop, and hired a rickshaw.

I saw the famous Mission Hospital, the library pass by.This was where I started to read books. Memories, one after another, start refreshing themselves. The  rickshaw moves through Brahmanpuri, and stops at  the destination. I get down and look around. I see the changes that have taken place. Big buildings have come up. My grandfathers vada thankfully remains. The huge verandah, the garden up front, the huge coconut tree. I am so glad that some things never change. :-)

I spent three days  there. Spent quality time with my relatives , doing nothing in particular. Chattering away, lying idly, roam around. I tried to soak up as much of Miraj as I could.

Finally the day of leaving came. I sat in the bus. I saw these places fall behind.  I felt overwhelmed by that barrage of memories, maybe even slightly choked up. I did the only thing that could calm me down and put the memories into text. Probably the only thing that could let me savour the memories of yesterday without making my today and tomorrow seem unsavory. I wonder how I'll feel when I leave Pune!! 

Enough of the sad stuff!! Did you know that dogs are turning veg? No? Eh! Pick up yesterdays Pune Times. So much meaningful stuff. ;-) It really  feels good to be back in the city.

*Miraj :- A major rail junction. A small town. Now part of the Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad Corporation. For the quiz-zically inclined, Miraj was the place where Balgandharva first performed. The hall is just  100 mts from my Grandpa's house.

                            Tags: Miraj, Sangli, personal

I love football. I really do. Where else can you find a combination of kick-boxing, fighting, face butting, pathetic acting?? If you don't believe that, my suggestion would be watch the game , Netherlands vs Portugal which was played on Sunday night.

It was a "color"ful game. Where else would you see flashing of red and yellow with that regularity. Trust me it was worth staying up for the game. ;-)

On a more serious note, I wonder what FIFA needs to do to stop the game from becoming a farce. I think referees flash the cards just to show the players who is in charge. Sometimes that leads to needless bookings. Last game in the first 3-4 mins itself the Dutch had 2 yellow cards. I agree that there was a lil bit of needling between the opposition, but it should not have been as ugly as that. I mean there were  4 red cards!! Whoever said football is a 11 man game....

Tags: Football. Netherlands, Portugal

I always thought  the English football team and the Indian Cricket team make a very very interesting analogy.

Both suffer due to high expectations. In both countries the players are subjected to intense media snooping. Both have been under-achievers in the respective games.Both have won the World Cup only once. Both have a foreign coach ;-).

Wat say people?

Tags: English Football

Saturday 10th June was the saddest day in my life. Ok on second thought the second saddest. I did see this movie too you know. :-(   Was suffering from the after-effects of watching Phir Hera Pheri for 2 days. ;-)

I was really excited, about seeing the movie, as I quite enjoyed the first one. There was some drama, from which the comedy sprang. The eccentric, alcoholic house-owner and his interactions with his bhadekaroos  were funny. PHP starts well enough, with Nana Patekar, just updating us on the characters but loses its way immediately. I will not give away the story, unfortunately because there is none. Hence no spoiler alert.. 

Imagine after watching Hera Pheri, you  made a list of all things that could have gone wrong, but thankfully didn't. After watching Phir Hera Pheri, you will actually find, that all those things have been done in the sequel.  ;-) Repetetive jokes, unnecessary physical farcical comedy, to name a few.

The movie sucks!! It really reminded me most of some Marathi comedy flicks of Lakshmikant Berde, Ashok Saraf, where you tend to feel that the  actors, director has  just gone overboard with the comedy. The movie can best be described as "dheemagh  ghar pay chhod kar jaane ka ." kind!

The movie ends in such a way, that they have kept a possibility of another sequel. Hopefully, Priyadarshan can direct that one and gives us something better than this.It's not very hard to beat this effort, trust me..

Tags: Phir Hera Pheri

Sehwag was found guilty of excessive appealing. He was reported to the match refree by the same umpires who did not find sufficient evidence to book Lara!!!

I don't know why the ICC makes statements like uniform disciplinary code, etc when they clearly can't implement it. Sachin gets booked for ball-tampering, when he is actually cleaning the ball in SA, while Michael Slater gets away with indecent, contemptuous behavior at Mumbai in the infamous Dravid catch claim. In the same game as Sachin, 5 other players are booked of excessive appealing, while Shaun Pollock in the same game got away with it.

Then the ICC promises again it will curb indiscipline. But then again Ricky Ponting is seen arguing with the umpires, nothing happens. Ricky Ponting makes the third umpire change his decision in the game against Bangladesh, still nothing!!!

I was really looking forward to hearing Simon Taufel talk, the day after the Dhoni fiasco. I think he very subtly hinted that the decision was the third umpire's. I agree with him. Then he spoke of following standard rules to ensure uniformity in implementing the decisions. Again well said. But then it becomes clear, that Lara is not going to be fined inspite of his behavior!! The reason given, Lack of evidence!!! I mean what freaking more evidence do u need? I have really lost a lot of respect for Simon Taufel.

It's extremely clear that the ICC is rampant with double standards. If anything the umpires, all three and the match refree have got disrepute to the game. Any provisions to take action against them ,ICC?

India are doing well in the test at Antigua. After the first couple of days, the wicket seems to have got better and is now seemingly  behaving like a typical Antigua track, which produces tall scores.

Wasim Jaffer's innings was a pure delight to watch. The man is the typical wristy, silken Indian batter, and watching him play the back-foot cuts, drives is fantastic. The man seems like elegance personified. Like VVS Laxman, he is pleasing on the eye while batting. Well done!!

Another refreshing thing was seeing Dhoni do what he does best, SMASH the ball!! His innings contained some "typical" Dhoni shots along with the unique Dhoni follow thru, which is impossible to describe, with the bat almost completing a full circle...

There was some controversy regarding his method of dismissal though. The fielder seemed to have caught the ball very near to the fence. The decision was referred to the Third Umpire. The replays seemed inconclusive. Absurdly,.the Third Umpire did not make any decision and seemingly told  the on-field umpires to make the call, something that is even more hard to fathom.

I don't see why Dhoni should listen to Lara. He might have accepted Lara's word if Lara had taken the catch. But why should he take Lara's word regarding someone else. What was  Lara thinking!!! The third umpire should have made the decision and avoided all the confusion.

Tags: Wasim Jaffer, Dhoni dismissal

It was very heartening to see Amir Khan defending himself on TV.  It just shows that he is not going to be cowed down and that is worth respecting. He reiterated his stand in public, and generally talked sense, which unfortunately the BJP representative in the debate did not , and neither did the Congress rep , Singhvi, who simply talked like a typical lawyer.

Some pertinent points. Amir has every right to make a statement. In this case, he simply took a stand for the rehabilitation of the displaced people, something which even the Supreme  Court has done. How is this anti-Gujarat and anti-development? I think this is an embarrassing time for the BJP. I hope the top-brass, if they have recovered from the "Maha"jan shock, act on this. And hope they take a reasonable stance on the issue. In fact I am really surprised no statement has been issued by the BJP. The Congress  it seems is playing a  double-game. Initially their youth-wing was also involved in the anti-Amir propaganda. Official statement was made only 1-2 day ago. And in general they have kept quiet. So has the film-fraternity.

I seriously think that the BJP has done itself great harm because of this incident.This was their chance  to talk sense, when the middle-class seemed to be anti-UPA, but they have floundered it. They made a big issue from a non-issue.If the people of Gujarat are hurt and angered by Aamir Khan’s stand as the party claims, then why would they pay upwards of  hundred rupees to watch the film voluntarily? Would they not be able to show their disgust without need for such bans? Unbelievably dumb!!

Tags: Amir, Fanaa

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In between all the brouhaha, The Pune Slimes celebrated it's ninth anniversary. Kapeesh has a brilliant post  enumerating all the ways in which PT has contributed to a Punekar's life. ROTFL stuff.

Tags: PT

It was a sadistic delight to watch Karan Thapar  tear Arjun Singh apart on the Devil's Advocate on CNN-IBN, You can catch the interview here . I say sadistic because I know even if it  is proved that the guy is acting an idiot, there is going to be no change in his stance,  i.e  it's of no use. The minister had absolutely no idea about the facts and figures. Yet he makes up his mind on the issue. It is really shameful that such people get to decide our future.

 Also depressing to note was Arjun Singh's response to the demonstrations, where he just terms it as hype!! Of all the nerve.. Well seriously what then would make this man rethink the decision. Apparently nothing. The decision has been taken and no-rollback possible, were his words.

Another blow, though expected was Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment's  comments.   It really is the biggest  blow as far as the Corporates go. They are here to make profits and are not Social Service organizations.  They might help with putting up infrastructure, etc required for the lower sections, but this!! Why should they compromise on quality. As I had mentioned in an earlier post, they after all want the best person for any position. The worst thing will be if the software cos decide to shift base outside India. Once the software bubble bursts the results would be horrendous. And the government by giving them a 2 yr deadline might just make sure that these guys will have sufficient time to get out. :-)

The one man I am most disappointed with is Dr Manmohan Singh, our esteemed PM. His unclear stand only proves that he is but a puppet. The  nation showed faith in the Congress for more than 50 yrs, and this is what it's given us. They will win the elections, no doubt about that. After all the "Upper castes" are only 25% roughly, and really insignificant as far as vote-banks go.  If the post sounds depressing, well guys I truly am depressed.The frustration is because most people know  they can't do a thing about this. It's a classic "Rob Peter and give to Paul". If Paul is getting everything on a platter why the hell will he complain.

Anyway Salil has another method to bug the minister here.  Though what purpose it will serve ,I don't know. :-(

Ramanand in his unique style writes about the interview here. Brilliant!!

Tags: Reservations, private sector, Arjun Singh

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Yesterday India lost by the narrowest margin possible, 1 run. Yuvraj hit 2 fours in the last over , the second one seemed to really bring about the memories of Klusner's exploits in the 99 semi-final. There was one more thing in comman. Tragedy!! So near yet so far!! Yuvraj played beautifully. While Sarwan was extremely lucky during his stay, Yuvraj really  played an inning devoid of blemishes.Well almost. He did get out didn't he? ;-)

India's brilliant run-chasing streak has culminated at 17, but the contest was beautiful to watch. As Dravid said,  he knew the streak had to end but not at chasing a moderate score... 

In the 1st game, Indian bowlers bowled poorly up front, but the batsmen responded, while in the 2nd game the bowlers were superb but the batsmen weren't. Lets hope Indains get both things right in the remaining games.

Tags: Cricket

We keep on hearing of  some sort of fallacies, mistakes about NCERT text books all the time; that students don't like to read text books.Just made me wonder if there was any text-book I actually enjoyed. The answer was simple. Fourth Std History.

I really have not come across any better school book after that. Even our Jr College text books weren't that great. I am sure all of the students who have done their SSC  will remember this book , which is quite an achievement in itself.

History was never that interesting again. The way the book was written you just felt like reading on and on.  It caught the interest like none other.It was like reading  a story book. Teachers in tenth always wondered  why History is the most dreaded subject. Well the answer might be simple, it was never presented in the way it actually should have and the level raised in IVth was never matched again..

I wonder if anyone shares my views though :-)

Tags: Musings

The anti-reservation demonstrations and stuff related to that , the discussions, etc are all that is seen these days on TV. After the utterly despicable way in which the police beat up the protesting students there was a huge public outcry. And why not? These were not comman goons on the street, these were students!! They were protesting in a non-violent manner. Was that the way to treat them?? I wonder if even the "mavalis" or  thiefs , thugs get the same treatment.

It was really sad watching Arjun Singh's reactions to the whole thing. The only person who can change this shitty resolution, it seems is the PM [or "Madam" :-)] .If this thing goes thru the cabinet meet, then I think this is yet another instance where the Congress has really pulled the nation back.  My views on the Congress remain the same ,only now I can't realistically see any alternative to the Congress.The reservations are just a big front  to just strengthen their vote-banks

It's been along time since reservations were introduced  in the govt. jobs. What has happened is that a very small portion of them actually utilises these benefits. A hypothetical example. A SC/NT/OBC boy. He studied in the same school as me. I got 85 in Xth, he got 60. Yet we land up in the same Jr College.It turns out, he also gets admission for the vocational courses ,which i [the small "i" is intentional] was denied. Then i get 92% in XIIth , while he gets 70. He gets COEP Entc , i have to opt for a lesser college, or a lesser branch.  I am sure many of u people have seen such examples, where a  person who has had education at par with yours go ahead only because he was from a "category".

Then there was an even bigger shock in my Engineering,  It seems those guys have fees for something like 7000 ,for the free seat ie . On top of  that they get a scholarship of 10,000. Which means that they are actually paid to learn and complete their engineering and do a "service" to society.

OBCs in our country are all the traditional businessmen , people who practice certain occupations sonar, lohar, tailors, etc . So basically everybody except the the Brahmins, Kshatriyas/Marathas. So basically economically they are in fact well off or at least at par with the "higher castes" .

It would be pig-headed to say that everyone gets equal opportunities in India. Poverty is rampant all over India. I believe the only way fwd is that the government should provide scholarships or reserve seats for the economically backward ideally. Give them concessional loans. If they show aptitude for the subject they will progress in it on the basis of the merit itself.

In one discussion I saw on TV, there was a CEO of a big comapny (sadly don't remember his name) was asked why isn' the pvt sector not employing backward class people, his answer was  something like "I dont care if ur from Jammu or Kanyakumari, whether ur a brahmin or a shudra , if I think u are best suited for the job u will be selected!!!" So true. The only jobs which ask for your caste are  government jobs! Has anybody seen a pvt company ask "Are u from the open category? " Laughable. :-)

Well I guess the government surely can do whatever it wants with government offices, etc.  But how can u bring reservations in the pvt sector? What right do they have to force people to hire a particular group?  Really pathetic, if that is implemented. It would not be surprising if all the companies just shifted base then.. It would be like killing the golden-egg laying hen..

So really after this do the politicians have any moral authority to make statements like "Brain drain must stop...." etc.   Unfortunately there is nothing moral about our politicians.They are very smart. Really. They know that the doctors's std in our country will go down bcos of the reservations. So they opt for the foreign specialists. :-)

Finally this is here. For an Orkut freak ,who uses Mozillla, it's quite decent.

Tags: FRIENDS

Whats this   now???

During my school days we used to subscribe to the Indian Express.My dad who had spent some time in Mumbai made it perfectly clear, once the Times is printed in Pune, we are going to take it. It hardly made any difference to me then , as all I was interested in was Cricket and related news . I was assured that the Times had better coverage of cricket. Nothing much has changed since I first subscribed to the Times.

The sports section of the main paper rocks. So do the other parts of the paper on most days.The supplement the Pune "Slimes" as I prefer to put it ,is very sad the less said about it the better. If me, a person born and brought up in Pune, doesn't find anything that concerns me in the paper, well then frankly there's something very wrong with the paper.Read the blog , Cruel Waste of Forests   and some of the comments in the earlier posts.

The one thing that bugs me the most is that the TOI always uses it's paper to advertise other entities of the Times Group. Be it Filmfare, Femina Miss India. The most recent  case was during the launch of the Times Now channel, they used to carry interviews with their anchors etc. All this is simply pushed on the reader. They simply have their finger in every pie, so the paper always has some pretty biased views.

Recently before the release of the movie Being Cyrus, for almost everyday in the week, they had something or the other about the movie. in the main paper or PT. It seems that the movie was produced or marketed by the Times Group!!! Simply another case of using it's space for adverts.

The thing is as long as the Sports coverage of the Times is good, I will keep buying the paper :-) . Pune Newsline is better that PT, but the main edition of the Express doesn't quite compare with the TOI main edition. An ideal combo would be TOI main edition+ Pune Newsline.  Sakal captures the essence of Pune quite brilliantly. Want to read the Herald. Would love hear some opinions of it.