The Predator

He wiped the blood from his face. He had not slept a wink in the last 4 hours as they followed him continuously. There are times when the prey outruns the predator. A cheetah chasing a young gazelle may not be always as one sided as it might appear. But he had no such luck today. Wherever he went to, they got to him, crawled onto his face and hands, biting deep into his flesh and drawing blood each time. Every time he had to rip them off his body and start the elusive run again.
They first attacked him when he was sleeping and caught him completely unawares. They were so smart that they now know the places he frequents.
Defense mechanism has always been a part of nature. Some plants turned poisonous to ward off herbivores animals. A few animals evolved chromatophores with which they changed their colours. Elephants grew tusks and butterflies had facial contours of larger birds on their wings. But the most dexterous animal of all, the humans, did not develop any inherent defense mechanism more due to the lack of any threats than anything else. They overcame the odds by using ingenious tools and warded off all predators. But not all can be warded off. He was facing one such species.
He first spotted them a few weeks back. They were rather few in numbers. And he had the satisfaction of killing them as they appeared. His friends warned him that they are resilient and will strike back with full vengeance. He was unperturbed. He had faced them in the past. They had one weakness and that was Ultra-violet rays. He had gone to their lair, uprooted their entire hideout and threw it under the sun, exposing them to the sun and successfully killed them all. But this time he did not have that trustworthy ally of his last battle: sunlight.
Even then he did his best. He had equipped himself with weapons acquired locally. Some said these are not sufficient. He did not bother as he was sure of his plans. But they were smarter this time. They came out in larger numbers and struck when he was most vulnerable: at nights. The battle lasted all night. He struck them down as they pounced on him. Some even got into his shirts. One was pricking his left ear. They were drawing his blood and as he killed some of them he felt blood on his face. He lost out. His inability to defeat them this time frustrated him. Things have now gone out of his hands. He had to call in professional assassins to do the job. The assassins came the next day. They had a gun in their hands and the ammunition was being fed to it from a tank. But unlike him, they did not use their physical might. Instead they resorted to chemical warfare. As their guns spewed the toxic agents all over his hideout, he had the satisfaction of seeing them die one by one.
He smiled. He has won another battle against the dreaded Cimex lectularius, commonly known as the Bedbugs.

* Inspired by a true story
** Written a long time back
*** I do realize the glaring yet subtle difference between parasites and predators well enough to indulge in a bit of twisting the facts, made possible by literary freedom

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Gokka Mokka 2

Now all wannabees from Chennai have a new place added to their list of 'hang out' places that include numerous coffee shops that charge 50 rupees to drink something that can be obtained by adding 2 gallons of water to home made coffee.
But Saravan Bhavan has disgraced itself more now than all of Annachi's scandals put together did to it. 42 rupees for a bun with cheese, raw lettuce and tomatoes when HSB can provide sumptuous meal for the same itself is too much. But HSB paying 400,000 for the same trash for however a good cause it maybe is a news as indigestible as a McDonalds burger.

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Gokka Mokka!!

From Cricinfo,
Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, presented him (Anil Kumble, on his getting 600 wickets in test Cricket) with a special ball, weighing close to 300 gram and studded with 1,500 of the finest diamonds sourced from Antwerp. Made by Orra Diamonds, it was interspersed with approximately 600 oval rubies.
Had India done poorly in Australia, Kumble would have been pelted with steel balls. And they accuse the Indian public of being whimsical!

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Tamil Cinema's loss

My first post in a long time - unfortunately an obituary. I was doing my routine 'check' on behindwoods.com when they had a set of pictures titles 'Raghuvaran laid to rest'. Knowing the standards of their articles, I assumed that these pictures were the stills from a movie. Half way through I saw Actress Revathi among the crowd and realized it was real. Funny, that his death did not receive much media coverage. He really looked older than his actual age in his last movie 'Bheema' and it was obvious that it was not due to any make-up.

He was a talented actor who towered above his colleagues, not just because of his physical stature but also due to his acting prowess. He had his unique style and mannerisms. Some like it and some do not. Some people perceive him as an actor who lacks variety, though I would say it is his standard style adapted to different scenarios that makes him appealing to the audience.

Some of his performances including the "I know" scene will stand in the memory of myself as well as Tamil cinema lovers forever. Here is to the one who enthralled us for more than two decades.

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Pirivom Santhipom

There were good reviews about this movie on all channels as well as papers, so I went on a Sunday noon to see this movie (without an advance reservation). The movie was running to packed houses at Sathyam and Inox, and so I ended up going to Devi Theater. A few words about the theater first. Devi Theaters, which was the pioneer of DTS in Chennai, was considered one of the best theaters in the city. But now the theater is in a very bad state now but the tickets for the movie were sold out. We managed to get the Rs.30 tickets in ‘black’ for Rs.50. After wasting time at Sathyam to get tickets there we ended a few minutes late for the show at Devi and the ticket counters were closed. But a flower vendor sitting in front of the theater saw us coming late and immediately came to us and offered us tickets for the show that has just started. The guy who takes all the late entrants to their seats with a torch light for assistance was obviously in cahoots with the people who sell black tickets, as he was the one who collected the money from us. We found that there were people sitting in ‘our’ seats. The ‘torch guy’ verbally abused all the people occupying our seats at the top of his voice and chased them away to other seats. All this while a song was going on in the movie! It was damn funny and a bit embarrassing too as we were standing and blocking the view for many people even as the guy was chasing people away one by one.

The movie was good. It was a neat concept to start with. Sneha has lots of friends and likes to be in big social circle. So she readily accepts Cheran’s hand for marriage (arranged) as he lives in a huge joint family. The marriage is shown rather elaborately in Chettinad style and looks good on the big screen. Cheran finds it difficult to have privacy with his wife while being in such a huge joint family, even as Sneha loves it. So he is overjoyed when he gets transferred (Cheran works in a power station) to a remote but picturesque village in the hills. Sneha is silently devastated even as her relatives congratulate her saying she would be having a prolonged honeymoon in their new place.

Cheran is away at work from morning to evening and Sneha occasionally keeps herself occupied by visiting her neighbour. But the loneliness slowly gets to her as she gets depressed and does strange things like recording the sounds she hears everyday. She also desperately seeks the company of people and purposely pulls out the nuts of the fan mounting or damages other items so that the electricians or any other repair men come home and she can have some one to talk to. These scenes are well shot and directed. ‘Kanja’ Karuppu once again does a good job playing a role that does not take up too much of the screen time in the name of a comedy track. Sneha’s acting is realistic and so is that of Cheran who lives up to his title of ‘Edhartha Nayagan’. But the story which runs at a leisurely pace for 2 hours suddenly starts to move rapidly and in the process loses some credibility. Jayaram, who portrays the doctor, diagnoses the ailment of Sneha just from the one line uttered by her when he visits her house and on hearing the sounds she has recorded. And immediately the movie hurtles on predictable lines to the end. Irrespective of the rather incongruous ending, the movie is a good watch. A decent family movie (as claimed by the movie makers) that does not have unnecessary melodrama in the name of romance and action and has already begun attracting repeat audiences.

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Kick starting Chennai trip with a bang!

As I walked amidst the crowds in Terminal B of Newark Liberty International Airport, I started to feel sleepy mentally preparing myself for the prolonged transit time at the Airport before my next Jet Airways flight to Chennai. It was then that I saw this guy sitting at a table furiously typing away in his Blackberry phone. I was afraid that I was mistaken. Surely it couldn’t be him. So I did some rounds around the table he was sitting in, taking in his face from all sides to confirm, and indeed it was him! A.R. Rahman!!

I wanted to go and talk to him but he appeared busy. So I put my bags in the table next to him and was pondering for a few minutes. Then finally I made up my mind and went to him. It was a true “pepsi ungal choice” moment. “Helloo, Rahman saaraa?? Ennala nambave mudila saar, naa ramba sandhoshamaa iruken!!!” (Ok, it is an exaggeration but you got the drift). So here I was speechless. I said ‘hello’ and he smiled back and said ‘hello how are you’. And then I asked the dumb question of the day,’ what are you doing here?’ (Ok, you meet Rahman like this and try starting a conversation). He said “I am going to Atlanta for a meeting and what about you’. I told him about my trip to Chennai. And then some random guy came and also started questioning. Rahman was a bit flustered and this guy immediately asked him if he can take a photo with him. R said 2 mins later even as he was furiously typing something in his Blackberry. I took the cue and told him that it was nice to meet him and went and sat in another table.

After a few minutes Rahman himself came to me and told me that he is going to find some lunch and if I would join him!! I was more than happy. I bought pizza. Rahman said he hates pizzas so much so that he would puke at the sight of it. Moreover he wanted to avoid non vegetarian food as it is the ten day period of Muharram and so he got a salad bowl. I joined him in his table at the food court. It seems he had come to Newark in Jet Airways and so I asked him about the flight as I was traveling in Jet for the first time. Basically I was trying to keep a conversation going as I was too thrilled.

He was going to Atlanta for a meeting. He talked about his plans to start a ‘music conservatory’ in Pallavaram, something akin to a musical college, specializing in Western Classical music and is hoping to rope in some faculty for that. I was surprised about the genre of music and I asked him why Western Classical music as it is not quite popular in India, to which he replied that precisely that is the reason for it to be the focus for the school. He explained a bit to me about Western Classical music and how many composers had drawn inspirations from it including Ilayaraja, MS Viswanathan and himself.

Then the topic shifted to some of his works and I asked him the question which I always had regarding music composing. My doubt was whether the lyricist and the music composer sit together while making a song. He clarified that mostly nowadays it is the tune that is made first and then the lyricists come up with lyrics that suit the tune but sometimes it might be the other way too.

At this time four Sri Lankans came to Rahman and one of them asked him, “Sir, are you AR Rahman?” Rahman was amused and he replied in the affirmative. They were obviously happy and expressed the sentiment to him. They also smiled at me and wished me probably thinking that I am some close associate of Rahman (felt full pride at this moment however worst you think it is). They requested him to stand for photos with them and he acceded. After the end of the photo session he asked me if I would be around for some time as he wanted to go to the restroom to freshen up. He left his laptop bag and phone with me and came back in a few minutes.

He then inquired about me. He was interested in knowing about the job prospects of students who complete their degrees here. On knowing that I studied in Ohio, he said that he came to Cincinnati once for a show and that he liked Ohio very much. I then told him that I had been to his show in Chicago and complimented him on that. According to him it was a logistics nightmare performing on a place on one day and then taking a flight and going to another city to perform again. But he said he is a bit used to it now and moreover seeing people dance especially to Tamil songs energized him. He asked me what my age is and when I told him he smiled and said,” that is half my age”. He also cautioned me on the ‘big, bad world’ I would be in now that I am going to start working soon.

He asked me if there was wireless internet available in the lounge we were in. I told him that I already tried for the access and saw that it was not free and it requires some login. He stated taking out his laptop but then put it back inside and surfed the net using his Blackberry. I think he came across some news item about the new Tata Nano because he commented on how the new Tata Nano is revolutionizing the market. I opined that it would also clog the roads now. He agreed and said how Chennai traffic is at its worst and he is not even able to come out of his house nowadays.

I asked him about the news that Rajini is doing Robot with Shankar and he did confirm it. I said when are you starting the work and with a smile he replied “It has already started”.

It was then time for him to board his flight. I asked him if I can take come photos with him too and he obliged. He then said goodbye and went away. Two hours with AR Rahman! Man, if that isn’t luck….

P.S. My luck streak continued in the flight and I got seats in rows in which there were no other occupants! There were few others who got seats in such rows and we all comfortably stretched out in the seats for sleeping like a train berth! :)

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Aussie high-handedness

I am not sure which is more despicable: an on field umpire trusting a fielder for a doubtful catch at a crucial juncture of the match or a captain eating his own words publicly in front of a global audience. India has been at the raw end of many unfortunate umpiring errors in matches abroad but none more than the just concluded match at Sydney. Its just that for some reason or the other just when India plays some good cricket, all the good work is undone by the umpires. We saw it in England before. We saw it in South Africa. And its happened in Sydney now. India has been very consistent in Test matches last two years or so. This is especially due to their good performance outside India.

I am not going to talk about Bucknor's decision to Dravid. Bucknor, who generally takes an hour to give a decision even if the batsman gets clean bowled, was quick to give Dravid out caught by Gilchrist. Its a different story that ball was no where near the bat. Umpires do err. But to be so consisently inconsistent against a team is frustrating to say the least.

The icing on the cake (or salt onto the wound whichever you feel) was done by Benson. I have seen batsmen stand for more obvious catches. If the Umpire has a doubt he consults the leg umpire. If they are still unsure, the third umpire is called up to see if the catch is clean. But on this occasion Benson thought it to be prudent to go by the word of Ponting who was not even the catcher. The ball was caught by Clarke after a bounce. The thing that irked me the most is Ponting's indication that the catch is clean! He was not the catcher and he cannot claim that. If his argument is that he was close by Clarke and so can vouch for the catch, it shows him more clearly to be the liar he was at that moment. In the post match conference, Ponting argued that before the match the two captains have agreed to respect the judgement of the catcher for close catches, instead of going to the third umpire. Obviously that applies only to the batsmen who are to take the word of the catcher and not the Umpire. Benson is an idiot to listen to what Ponting says as to the legality of the catch. If he relies on the players to make decisions, then what is the third umpire for. He might as well ask the batsman the next time if he thinks he is out lbw.

Add to this Gilchrist's appeal for a catch off Dravid's pad (which was upheld) and Ponting's appeal for a catch off Dhoni's pad (the ball hit the ground and Ponting also grasses the catch) you have a perfect pattern for the day. Video replays clearly show Ponting grass the catch and when questioned his reply is : "There's no way I grounded that ball. If you're actually questioning my integrity in the game, then you shouldn't be standing there,". So he assumes that nobody has the right to question him. A clear case of Aussie high-handedness.

If you think this is as bad as things can go, you are wrong. The Australian commentators were acting the clowns. Especially Mark Taylor who was justifying the action of the Umpire. How can a person be so pathetically blind to the obvious. Its normal to swear allegiance to a team. But you cannot call a bluff by trying to hide the plain truth. Taylor said that the umpire Benson was right. The reason is, in his very own words while commentating, Benson had to take a decision and he could have asked Bucknor for help or asked the fielding team as to the validity of the catch. And he chose to do the latter. So he did what he can do and so he cant be blamed. Probably he assumed that the third umpires are wax dolls installed to fill the seats in the stadium.

I can now sympathize with the adrenaline rush of all the psycho killers in the world who go running around with an axe because I felt highly inclined to do the same with Taylor and others. They had other similar excuses and they even cited the Ponting-Kumble pre-series agreement about taking the word of the catcher as if it is a written code of conduct and so batsman should not question the fielders word. Just imagine if things had been other way around and Australia experienced these things in India. The moment they set foot on Australia, Ponting would come out openly against the umpiring standards, verbally thrashing the umpires and how Indian players did not uphold the spirit of the game and were a big let down for 'him'. And ICC will not penalize him for breaching the code of conduct for openly complaining against match officials, while had any of the Indian did that last night a disciplinary action would be initiated immediately. And the Australians accuse Harbhajjan of being a racist!!

I wonder how Kumble managed to remain sane at the end of the day.

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From being a student to an alumnus..

Today I received my M.S. degree and became an alumnus of The Ohio State University. It was raining lightly as we went to St.Johns Arena for the commencement. There were thousands of people in the Arena of which about 2000 were getting the degrees.
During the rehearsal yesterday, we were cautioned that some might get the degrees of some other person in case of a mix-up in the order or some people's degrees might not be there and in such cases a blank card would be within the folder given by the dean to the student. I assumed that my bad luck in such cases would result in me facing one of these situations, but luckily it did not happen. The moment the dean saw the folder and asked said my name, my heart leapt with joy. I got my degree alright! And with no spelling mistakes too. So thats it. Two years and a quarter of student life at The Ohio State University is over. A proud moment tinged with a bit of sadness.

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The best and the worst: All in a few days

Graduating as a Buckeye
My sojourn at Ohio State is coming to an end. With the Masters defense done and the thesis turned in, all the formalities are over. And with the commencement just a week away, officially my student life is coming to an end. Last month was very hectic due to thesis work, subsequent corrections from advisers and meeting the deadlines. Now that its all over suddenly I find myself with nothing to do. Well, almost.

I am experiencing the feeling of having something really heavy lifted off the mind and at the same time flying carefree in the skies. Its a feeling I get every time the semester exams get over. Only difference is that I did not used to work much for the exams then, though I worked significantly more for the thesis and defense. But the resultant exuberance is the same. Now I have loads of time in front of me and no solid plans for it unless I get that OPT, which is evading me as of now. At least I am hoping that a few travel plans would materialize.


Worst Movie
I went to the movie, "The Darjeeling Limited" yesterday. I wanted to see the movie from the day it was released, because the trailer was 'cunningly' packaged to entice the viewers to believe that its a roller coaster ride sort of movie shot in some exotic locales. Halfway through the movie (a bit earlier than that in fact) I was praying for it to end. In my list of worst movie experiences, it occupies a spot just a tad below "Sideways" (Now, that is one movie experience that will be etched in my memory for ever. There were about 12 of us seeing the movie on a DVD. Four were pretending that movie was good, while the rest of us were staring blankly at the screen. It was only when I got a prank phone call from a person sitting next to me, I realized that everyone was in the same boat! It was a hilarious ride from then onwards, no thanks to the movie though). I had no idea what the director is wishing to convey. Is it a movie to portray an exotic country? Well, every single depiction of India was as stereotyped as it could ever get, except for the female attendant in the train whose promiscuity was as obscure as the movie itself. And the background music for the first half of the movie was a 'veena' being strummed continuously which was disturbing to say the least. And of course, I did not have to mention that the guys never end up going to Darjeeling. Towards the end of the movie, the director teases the viewer with the promise of a man eating tiger which never showed up just like we should not have for the movie.

No 'Sooner' said than done
Once again the Buckeyes are in the BCS national championship game (They should be once the final rankings are out). When the game against Illinois was lost, it was unanimous (at least according to the pundits of ESPN) that we threw away the opportunity and will be lucky to get to a bowl game. But the craziest season of college football has ensured that we gained a back-door entry to the final game on Jan.7, 2008 at New Orleans. Most likely the opponents are going to be the LSU tigers. There is a famous saying for the Indian cricket team, "They are just one defeat away from victory". When the team is rolling by easily defeating all opponents, we end up losing the finals. This is what happened to the Buckeye nation last year against you-know-who. This time caution would surely be a watch word and hopefully we are better prepared and crush the tigers (or whoever the BCS matches against us) and prove that Big Ten and most of all the Buckeyes are as good as we are touted to be.

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Ignorance is bliss

47 percent of Americans cannot locate India on the world map. A fifth of the Americans cannot locate their own country on the world map while the relatively bright ones wonder why. And a section believes Musharaff to be reasonable and rational!

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