Man's arm trapped in train toilet

This dude's phone slipped into the toilet while he was doing his shenanigans (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7693386.stm). I do sympathize with him but I am not sure I would stick my hand down that tube to recover anything. Like they say "Shit Happens"

Whither art thou?

Got my hands recently on a Def Leppard CD from my younger days. It really felt like I was being drawn back to those college days. I got hooked on Def Leppard in the summer of 1990 and was fueled by their music for a few years. I still remember when I really begged my dad to get that prized possession "A brand new Sonodyne" player. he was always asking me why I was not satisfied with those small boombox type players and I knew instantly that he was not connecting with me. Recently saw the 200W player neatly put away in the attic of my parents bedroom. Guess all they wanted was couple hours of TV.This surely is the passage of time. I did eventually get to listen to Def Leppards Songs from the Sparkle Lounge and I felt that either they were too old or I was too old. But like my old Sonodyne player and the Def Leppard craze my new passion will die down too. That too will pass.

Old habits die hard (pun intended)

Was reading the BBC article about a fireworks accident in Rajasthan (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7685583.stm) How much more senseless can it get out there? All this loss of life for something that is so trivial. And to think that most of the lives lost were of young children. Should they not be in schools enjoying their childhood. I do remember my childhood days when I celebrated Diwali with fireworks. Guess if it had dawned on me that early I would have gladly given that up if it meant having those tender hands work the pencil instead of those toxic chemicals. I heard that in Chennai, school kids have signed petitions to do away with fireworks. I salute their brave hearts and their dedication to their cause. I feel very small in front of them. I guess it’s easy to say that the better thing to do is to keep children away from the fireworks companies, but good luck at trying to implement that in our greedy society.

The Real Man on the Moon (guess it's actually unmanned)

Was really excited reading about India's space mission, actually moon mission that is going to launch tomorrow. At a whopping cost of $83 million, this is going to be a really grand spectacle. I remember those Diwali days watching all those fireworks and looking with awe at the rockets that were launched from a bottle. This is way cooler than that and I wish the space program all the luck. I hope they bring back some moon dust and I hope that this is not going to be called a "staged" event at a Bollywood studio. Well it's a lot better than "Koi Mil Gaya". Just kidding. Keeping my fingers crossed.

The Wizard of OZ

If you were wondering who that was I'd say most definitely Dhoni. Looks like he has the balls to tame the OZ. I guess they have some serious damage control to assess after that pasting they took from the Indians. It's time to stop the bragging and start playing cricket mates. Look out for that tour de force in the third test. With the advantage on their side I a hoping for that last nail to be driven on the Oz brag coffins. They can doo all ther crying back home on the plane.

The king is not dead. Long live the king.

For all you Tendulkar bashers, I guess you can all keep your mouth shut. Here is the ultimate run-machine. Subtract that elbow injury and the cricketing nations might have seen the real Bradman. I salute him on his no mean achievement. Looks like he has the fire still burning. Way to go Sachin you pint sized powerhouse.

Proposition 8. How it affects me.

I recently got a couple of emails from friends and family to support Prop 8 on the California ballot. I still am not eligible to vote but do have a few thoughts of my own. I do have a few gay friends and I do not have anything against them. In fact I have a lot of respect for them. But the fact of the matter is that what the gays and lesbians demand is not a social right ( I found it especially ludicrous when their demands were compared to to the civil rights movement). The civil rights movement was not a movement to legalise perversion. Civil unions are a better alternative and the right to redefine marriage for the community as a whole and support perversion is outrageous. This is the basic insecurity playing havoc with their already confused minds. Why is that in this country people get psychiatric counselling for depression, PTSD and mental illness but not for perversion? Also spare a thought for children adopted by a gay or lesbian couple. The terrible tragedy is that they would miss on either motherly or fatherly love which cannot be substituted by any amount of attention form a same sex couple. This is the dangerous precedent that would ruin the social fabric of our children. Why kill the innocence of a child for no fault of theirs. If this dangerous trend were to continue a few years from now we would have people wanting to marry their sisters, parents and even pets. These are sad times for a once glorious nation which used reason for every decision it made. I do hope better sense prevails. Let us all wait and see.

Another one bites the dust. The Ganguly Saga

Its too bad to see Ganguly leave Team India http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/indvaus2008/content/current/story/372830.html. The very team he led pragmatically, fiercely and with a lot of guts. Looks like another soft dismissal for the Dada from Kolkata. But one surely cannot forget the yeoman service he has done to Indian cricket. His towering sixes especially off the spinners was a delight to watch. Another sight that brought the goosebumps was his rollicking opening stands with Tendulkar, which kept that adrenaline flowing when one was watching TV.

I guess his only primal wrongdoing, other than his circumspect footwork to the left arm seamers was his love-hate relationship with the management which finally undid him. The sad aspect of Indian cricket has been the heavy dosage of politics which was the only constant change, be it the Bombay dominated team of the 80's or the Chappel histrionics with Ganguly. It is however pleasing to see the Tiger of Kolkota leave with a roar rather than a whimper, a sure way to keep those memories alive instead of quitting kicking and screaming. I do wish him a great future and hope he gets to mentor those talented young guns out there raring to go out and play for India.

His story seems a harsh reminder of the fading glory of the famous five, and sure must ring alarm bells for the rest of the seniors. I hope India takes the "Shape up or ship out" stance, which would work wonders and keep that well-oiled machine running smoothly.

"Why I still love Chennai"

Was back in good ol' Chennai for my now biennial homecoming. I have to say that Chennai has become more of a big bustling city than I have ever experienced. But my awe of the city never ceases. I guess I have to substantiate that claim with a "Why I like Chennai still". So here goes.

So after a few days in Chennai post long haul flight from LAX we decided to venture to New Delhi and Agra. I guess I had to show my wife the eternal symbol of love "The Taj Mahal" and I had to make my son see it too lest he be plagued by his teachers and friends at school about" What, You're from India and haven't see the Taj?" I guess we also have to see the naked fakirs and the flying carpets too someday, but we sure did miss those this time. We took the "new look" Rajdhani Express http://www.indianrail.gov.in/rajdhani.html from Chennai and man was I impressed by this train. It apparently is now a quasi-private run train and the sponsors (Airtel) must be given kudos for their excellent maintenance of the train. And here is the best part, the food was excellent a far superior fare than burgers and fries. It was complete with soup and dessert too and we had very little to complain about it. And there was more pampering with frequents jolts from our sojourn by the catering staff bringing us cutlets, coffee, soft drinks to name a few.

Anyways, back to the issue. We did have a great time in Agra and Delhi bit there sure was a stark contrast in the attitude of people. Whenever we asked for directions or help they sure looked at us if we got off a spaceship. Well at least we were lucky to get those looks since the usual attitude is to ignore the offender who asked for directions. If we rewind the same scene to Chennai the person would happily walk with you or get into your car and take us to the place with the added value of a free "the demise of values" or "I know this place like the back of my hand" chat. Another ordeal we had to endure was the indifferent attitude of the tourist operators in Delhi. They sure did act like they were doing us a favor when we wanted to take a tour of the city. Most routes according to them had too much traffic and hence they did not want to take us to the spot. I was thinking about a city without traffic in India and funnily I could not remember any.

Guess all this made me want to run back to Chennai for solace where I did find a little bit more of humanity and the personal touch. You can call me biased because I lived for almost 27 years in Chennai, but I guess I am my own best judge.

The only ironic bright spot in Delhi was in the form of a traffic accident. A scooterist hit a school girl who was blindly crossing the street and some good Samaritan immediately whisked her off in his car to the closest hospital. It is sad that something tragic has to happen for people to show their good side. But I am glad that there are a "few good men".

Madras, Music and Musings

Madras, Music and Musings

I was wondering after reading the success stories of a lot of bloggers "can I blog too?". As a guy beat up in science I can relate to the word "slog" easily, but the concept of the "blog" was cool to me and after a couple of months of reading good and a lot of pathetic blogs, I thought I can venture and try to do the same.

So I started to write up this blog. It has been about 15 minutes and I have chewed halfway through my pencil and my hair seems more unkempt than before. Maybe it was all that scratching I did trying to figure out what to write. How about if I start with music?

I am basically South-Indian (yeah thats right that country with more than a billion people). I guess my familial roots are a bit tangled. It had to dig its way through state borders. My grandad was born in Kerala but migrated to Tamil Nadu, to Madras to be precise (what? why am I not calling it Chennai). It's because Chennai sucks. I still fondly remember it as Madras and would never cease to call it that. I am glad some smart aleck did not change the airport codes from MAA to CHA. I guess a lot of bags with NRI goods would have strangely landed somewhere in Chatanooga, TN (CHA).

Damn, I seem to have Attention Deficit Disorder. I said I would write about music but I strayed on to my roots and passion for the city I was born in. Lets get back to music. I dont know I have to be ashamed about this but when I stretch back my memory to check for my passion for music it seems only to date back to my high school days. Before that I guess any kind of music was good enough for me. Frankly I could not distinguish M.S. Subbalakshmi from Michael Jackson. That brings me to this amusing episode that one of my friends told me when I was in College. He was one of those rich kids with this dream of coming to the "land of the free". India seemed to choke him endlessly and he just wanted to break free (apologies to Freddie Mercury). He even had a chauffeur to drive him around the city and the one thing that he had in common with his driver was that they listened to music when they toured the city or when he was driven to college everyday. One day he noticed that Mr. Driver was listening to a audio tape (Yeah. it was the pre CD and DVD era) some classic hard rock songs. My friend was amazed at this and asked him how he he knew about Steppenwolf, Queen and even Pink Floyd if I was not mistaken. The reply was " Athellam onnum illa sir. Nan music kadaiku poi nalla "dish dishennu" sound ulla english music ketpen, andha allum athei record panni kudupar"

Hidden San Diego Treasures



Living in San Diego has it's own charms. We recently tried our hand at exploring the hidden treasures of San Diego. Guess everyone needs a guide to do so, and our best bet was "San Diego Treasures" by Kathi Diamant of KPBS San Diego. Last week we decided on the "unknown" suspension bridges of San Diego in the Banker's Hill area. We checked ou the Spruce and the Quince street brdges. Not exactly the "Golden Gate" or the "Coronado Bridge", these bridges actually enlightened us about some not so well know San Diego Trivia.

Finally got a chance to view "Anniyan" after all that waiting. I have been following blogs and reviews of the movie for a few weeks and had a pretty good idea of what was in store. Most reviews and particulary blogs tended to be biased on a "pro" or "anti" Shankar or Vikram or not surprisingly A.R. Rahman. Kollywood films seem to be smitten with the Hollywood agenda of pre-publicising blockbusters so much that they beat it to death. The gala opening shot celebrations, audio releases and miscellany builds up so much hype that it ensures the film will be described with varying degrees of disappointment upon release.

But one has to admit that Anniyan is nevertheless a thought-provoking film and I am sure that every person who watched the film did atleast for a few seconds ponder about the little trangressions that they committed in some stage of their lives. Thinking about the inspration for the film I was wondering whether Shankar was in fact influenced by the 1995 hollywood blockbuster "Se7en" aka Seven starring a brilliant Morgan Freeman and a more than mediocre Brad Pitt. The similarities seem to stem from the fact that Anniyan talks about the "garuda puranam" where there are graphic descriptions of the punishments that awaits sinners in hell, whereas the same ideology was portrayed in Seven based on "Divine Comedy" of Dante Alighieri where he talks about the seven cardinal sins in order of increasing severity: gluttony, lust, avarice, sadness, anger, acedia, vain glory, and pride. While the John Doe (Kevin Spacey) of Seven was a mentally deranged serial-killer, Ramanujam (Vikram) of Anniyan is the righteous middle-class brahmin who brings out his pent-up anger against an egocentric society in the form of an almost comic-book like action hero cum vigilante who takes the law in his own hands. The other film that comes to mind is "Fight Club" where a brilliant Edward Norton worms out of his disillusioned life by creating his own world of illusion which sprials him into oblivion.

Nevertheless Anniyan excels in many qualities and breaks the stereotypes in Indian and in particular Tamil cinema. Shankar has penned a good storyline and has used his talents to keep the audience engrossed. Sujatha's dialogues are reliable and does not let one down. Vikram has matured as an actor and Anniyan adds another feather to his cap and reiterates the fact that he is undisputedly one of the finest actors to have graced the Tamil cine industry. He provides another stellar performance as Ambi, Remo and Anniyan silencing his critics who scoffed at his performance in "Pithamagan" as being a mere tear-jerker. He excels in the showdown scene with Prakashraj in the interrogation rooms where he effortlessly ping-pongs between Anniyan and Ambi. Sadha gives a good act as Nandini and barring a few scenes is reduced to a glamour-puss. Prakashraj puts in a cameo as the cop who is directly affected by Anniyan's deeds and emotes with control and as usual keeps the audience praising his qualities as a character actor. At a time when Tamil cinema went stale in the comedy section, Vivek came as a fresh breeze into the industry. He essays a very good task of keeping the comic relief going and as usual tries to provide the thought-provoking comic lines. The casting is excellent and the choice of actors for the various roles was picture perfect be it Kalabhavan Mani as the "blood-sucking" landlord, Saurabh Shukla as the avaricious industrialist, Nasser as the physchiatrist or Cochin Hanifa as the abscondong mototrist who becomes the first vitim of Anniyan. The visual effects in the movie are breathtaking and the fights are brilliantly choreographed justifying the huge budget of the film. Anniyan once gain proves the coming of age of Tamil cimema with the brilliant cast and crew of Anniyan.

Turning to music, Harris Jayaraj has done a excellent job and must be lauded for his efforts. I came across a few "unfair" reviews and blogs that undermine his effort and have given him a raw deal. Many feel that A.R. Rahman may have made a big difference, but I beg to differ. A.R.R is undoubtedly a good music director but he has had his fair share of failures too. The mentality of the biased music lovers in Tamil Nadu is like the nations mentality when it comes to cricket "If Tendulkar can't score a century in every match then India is doomed". The same is the truth with the music scene, "if it's not A.R.R then it's not music". Frankly, I have come to the conclusion that A.R.R is becoming more of a fashion statement and people are addicted to brand selling more than quality. Harris Jayaraj has scored some excellent music in the past and Anniyan is no exception. Andankaka Kondakari with Jassi Gift's infectious voice is my top-pick. Kadhal Yannai and Kannnum Kannum are racy and fit well in the story line.

As in any film there are some let-downs and Anniyan does not escape the radar in that aspect. The song choroegraphy is amatuerish and sometimes downright pathetic. The Kannum Kannum Nokia song reminded me of the action songs sung by preschool kids, where every word in the lyric is acted out and even such a small lapse in detail seems gargantuan in a film of epic proportions. Shankar is not able to explain the physical changes between Ambi, Remo and Anniyan which happens in a jiffy including the change in attire. But hey, it's a film and once has to remeber that if the message is thought-provoking and is appreciated and absorbed by the masses, then it worth all the effort.

In final analysis Anniyan will be a force that changes the outlook of people and make them think positively. The technical brilliance and the collective effort for this venture has to be appreciated. Shankar has rebounded well and energetically from the beating he took with "Boys"and delivers another magnum opus. But one has to reconcile with that fact that corruption, greed, avarice and selfishness are part of the human psyche and that it will take more than an Indian, Mudalvan or Anniyan to change society.