Sourav Ganguly

I have been a big fan of Saurav Ganguly. I remember his first test match, in which he made 131, Or even his first ODI back in 1992 where he had scored just 3 runs.
He is the best SouthPaw ever, and only the third Indian to never have a Test average below 40 (Even Sachin does not belong to that exclusive list).Rahul Dravid had once commented, "On the off-side, first there is God, then there is Ganguly”.

I have always believed that when dada is on the pitch, magic will surely happen. He showed his magical abilites with the Bat, once again in the third Test match against SA, when he did this:



Now show me one other Batsman who can do something like this. Scoring runs against such an Opposition, and on such a pitch is a different thing, and levitating his bat, is another.

My Beloved

Are you angry with me, because I have been away from you for two months? You have got to believe me, when I say that I was thinking of you all this while. I've just reached home, kept my luggage, and have come down to see you.

I still remember that rainy August evening, when I saw you for the first time. The setting sun's red glow was falling on you thru the glass. Your blue highlights were gleaming. It had just rained, and there were still a few drops on you, and you looked just perfect. It was love at first sight, I must admit.

We have been thru a lot. You were there when the accident happened, and both of us, fortunately escaped unhurt. We have been to beaches, thru Mountain passes, into the dense fog, in the chilly winters, and the wet rain. We have been together for a really long time. You really don't believe that I don't care for you.

On the flight home, I was thinking of you, and how you would respond. Are things going to be totally different between us from now on? Are you going to the give me the same response when I touch you? I'll have to see for myself, right?

You lay there under the sheet, while the sun is bathing you in the gorgeous morning sunlight. I can catch glimpses of you ankles, but you are hidden, as if angry at me. I come and pull the sheet off you, gently. The sheet moves over your curvaceous body slowly, and it's good that I don't see you completely at first. As each and every part of your body is exposed to me, one by one, I fall in love with you, all over again.

I drop the sheet aside, and look at you face. Your deep eyes, look sleepily at me, and your smile is still striking. There is a smudge of dirt on your forehead, and I lightly brush that off. You shyly turn your face away from me. I trace your figure with my fingers, and every contour feels so familiar. It's as if I had never left you.

Does your heart still beat for me? There is only one way to find out. With a quick twist of my wrist, I turn you on, and you purr like a contended kitten. I reach down to touch your throbbing bosom, and I am reassured by the rhythmic beating of your heart.

I know things will be fine between us.



Disclaimer: I had written this when I had gone back to Pune after spending two months in Delhi. I didn't post this then, because I thought, it was rather personal, and quite pornographic. A casual conversation yesterday evening, just made me rethink, about how much I love my bike, hence I decided to post it now.

Wrestling with a pig

Many of you know, that I love to argue, and I could argue for argument's sake, but I usually don't. And that's because most people lack the intellectual capability to take a line of reasoning to its logical end. Most people also are ignorant of the various fallacies and tend to muck up. Arguing with them is useless. It is like trying to play chess with someone who has never played it, and refuses to learn the rules.

However, when someone tries to convince me to change my behavior or outlook, I have to defend my self, and tend to bring the full arsenal at my disposal. Something similar happened today. Someone was trying to convince me, that I should be less skeptical. I was not going to take nonsense like that, and argued till the other person had no point to make. This is when she said

That when wrestling with a pig, at the end you are both filthy and exhausted –but you get the distinct feeling that the pig enjoyed the experience.

It suddenly struck me, what an absurd metaphor it is. Firstly, What kind of person actually goes to wrestle with a pig? And even if someone actually did, what is the best outcome that he or she could expect?

Even though this metaphor was totally irrelevant here, it says more about the person who gets in to wrestling with the pig, rather than the pig...

Nehru: The Invention of India A review

Jawaharlal Nehru, in his 17 year long innings as Prime Minister, had influenced India more than anybody else has ever done in her long History. For most of the world, India was Nehru and Vice versa. His actions, his morals, his principles still hang around today. He is said to be responsible for everything that is good, as well as bad in India today. Quite a feat! But one must realise that he was at the helm of a nascent India, and he could have chosen any path he wanted, and India would have followed. That is why M.J. Akbar named his Nehru's biography as 'Nehru, The making of India'. In 2003, one of my favourite author, Shashi Tharoor wrote his version, 'Nehru: The Invention of India' which I just finished reading.
Tharoor confesses in the preface that it 'is not a scholarly work; it is based on no new research into previously undiscovered archives;...It is, instead a reinterpretation-both of an extraordinary life and career and of the inheritance it left behind for every Indian.' Fair Enough. He has an incredible way of putting things across, and It would be interesting to note his take on Nehru. Alas I was far too disappointed.
The book, even though it is an reinterpretation, contains no new insights. We already know Nehru's life was one of comforts, and his schooling in England, first in Harrow and then at Inner temple was not one that was 'average' and 'undistinguished'. Tharoor tries to bring out the father-son relationship, but one feels that he he could have done better. Tharoor is known as a novelist, and one would expect, that he would bring his considerable talents, and write a passionate and evocative narrative, which is wholly missing.
We plod through Nehru's early Public life, till independence, and the book read like a newspaper article. Instead of an emotive narrative, we have a elegantly written piece, that does not show us the real Nehru, only his achievements and movements. Ironically enough, Tharoor's 'Great Indian Novel' gives a better insight in to Nehru, his mind and his emotions then this one does. Another fact that bugged me a lot, was that th is a singular focus on Nehru, with Gandhi & Motilal Nehru, sharing some of the limelight. It seems like there is no one else. This somehow leaves a gaping hole, in our understanding of Nehru. The narrative reminds me of Bollywood Movies, where the hero is all-important, and the secondary characters serving only to be at the receiving end of the hero's actions and words.
The post-independence part of the book is somewhat better. The first Chapter in this section deals with his foreign policy initiatives in the Post war world. This is where Tharoor brings his diplomatic expertise at the table, and wonderfully wields his pen, to provide an insightful analysis of Nehruvian diplomacy. The next chapter deals with Nehru's declining years, and ST manages to paint an heart retching scene of Nehru beyond his prime. It is the last chapter which deals with what ST loves to write about quite passionately. He writes about Secularism, democracy and other legacies of Nehru.

My biggest criticism of this book, would be with its title: 'Nehru: The Invention of India'. It is a rather Pompous title, and Nehru wouldn't have ever thought that he was inventing India. India for him, was always there, with its 5000 year old history and culture. Nor was it just an idea for him. It was there, just waiting to be discovered. No wonder then, that he wrote a book, which briefly described the History of India, called 'The Discovery Of India'. But let us give ST poetic license to name his book what he want.
Where he fails is to do justice to the title. The book hardly touches how India was 'invented'. Yes he does mention the ethics and morals of Nehru, but that does not make India. ST might think that India is just about secularism, democracy, foreign policy and socialism...it is not.
This book would be welcomed by people who know nothing about Nehru, but given a choice, I would recommend M.J.Akbar's biography over this any day.

Dus Kahaniyaan---A review

There was quite some Publicity buzz around this movie, and it seemed quite interesting, so I had to take a look. This is an anthology of 10 short stories, in the visual format; 6 directors: Hansal Mehta, Rohit Roy, Meghna Gulzar, Apoorva Lakhia, Jasmeet Dhodi and Sanjay Gupta, paint an engrossing film of just above 100 minutes. So how is it? Well..let me first tell you about the 10 different stories.

The film starts out with quite an engrossing tale, called Matrimony, featuring Mandira bedi and Arbaaz Khan. Mandira Bedi is more famous for her spaghetti straps then her 'Shanti' and Arbaaz Khan is hardly known for his Acting Skills. Given this background, we hardly expect them to perform so well. The story has an 'O Henry-isque' ending, but the story works, even though it is quite predictable.

Then we have High on the Highway which is the worst of the lot. Not only do we have wooden performances from Jimmy Shergill and Masumeh Makhija,
but the director doesn't help either. There is no buildup, for which the frequent flashbacks are partly responsible. The main blame however lies on the story, which has no essence, or even the ending, where he dies a romeo-like-death, unable to handle a loss.

This is followed by a very wonderful film, Pooranmashi. It's a film staring Amrita Singh and Minsha Lambha. Within a few frames you start believing in both the characters, and mourn the eventual sad ending. However the scene where the daughter faces the villagers could have been better handled, given that there is hardly any interaction between the Mother-daughter, when the whole story revolves around them. There was so much potential for Minsha to act here, but she is not upto the task. Amrita Singh, however comes out with flying colours.

Strangers In The Night, is a film high on Substance as well as Style. It features Mahesh Manjrekar and Neha Dhupia, as a couple, unmasking their deepest secrets to each other. Here you have neha's character telling us about her most Intense moment, and We are first shown the incident from one angle, and then the same incident in it's entirety. These contrasting angles are so antagonistic, that instead of it being a twist in the tale that we would blame ourselves for, we tend to blame the director. This one, out of the 10, had the maximum potential, but until the second angle is better handled, it leaves us unsatisfied.

Zahir, is a film featuring Dia Mirza and Manoj Bajpai. It starts of quite well, with the canvas being painted in just a few scenes. They are beautifully handled, but then the story starts losing it's grip. It starts feeling jerky, and instead of the story moving continuously, we find that there are lots of gaps. The ending is as predictable as hell, and we are left mourning over what could have been.

Lovedale which stars Neha Uberoi and Aftab Shivdasani, is the first film after the intermission. It's a sweet love story, but I felt the writer was trying too hard to be 'arty'. It ends up looking like something a teenager would write and claim that it was going to be the next big thing.

Now comes Sex on the Beach, which is story featuring Dino Morea and some hot chick. This film provides the horror quotient to the anthology, and works beautifully due to the background music and cinematography. There are seriously scary moments during the film, and in a way provides an interesting contrast to the last one. It treats lust and paranormal phenomenon in a way that is antithetical to the last story, which I found to be quite thought provoking.

Now comes the most awaited section, Rice Plate, featuring Shabana Aazmi and Nassurudin Shah. We know that both of them have a lot of talent, but Shabana's portrayal sometimes feels like a Caricature. Nassurudin is perfect as expected with his understated performance, but when you get them together, magic happens. The débutante director is however unable to use them properly and he chose to focus on unimportant parts of the story, while glossing over the crux of the story, which was the realisation that dawns on Shabana's character.

The ninth film is called Gubbare, which has a stellar performance from Nana Patekar. Nana can set the screen on fire, on his day, and this was his day. The story moves towards its inevitable conclusion, but Nana's voice holds you hand along the way, and for once, the predictability is the strong point of the film. It leaves you feeling all warm and fuzzy inside, and not in a bad way.

The film ends with Rise and fall, which is the most stylish of the lot. It is low on substance, but you don't mind it. There are two parallel stories, and by mid point you realise that a flashback sequence is going on. The action is wonderfully shot in the rain. It might not be matrix level, but you feel each blow and cut. Sadly there is no novelty factor, because we have seen the same kind of stuff from him earlier.

Now that you know what the short films are all about, comes the important question. Does the Anthology work? The answer is not in black or white, but in the greys. Anthologies work when either you have a common theme, or if the sections provide a different insight to construct the whole. It is on this count that the film falters.

There is no unifying theme or idea. The only thing that could be construed to be the theme, would be the travails of lust... Sensual lust, carnal lust or even lust of power.

There have been attempts along this path in Bollywood by RGV, with his Darna mana hai series, but those failed because the individual stories sucked. Here the short films are of a higher caliber, and the film as a whole provide good entertainment for almost 2 hrs.

You know that you are boring

You should know that you are boring when I feel that talking to A.L.I.C.E. will be more fun.
[I actually was thinking about that when someone was boring me over Gtalk]