100th

Hmm a year and 11 months of blogging. And 100 n.o.

There were times when I was in solid touch, with boundaries flying in all direction,

there were also times when I was down and the scoring came to a halt,

but here I am.

This is not the end, although many would love it to be,

This is not the end, because I do not want it to be.

This is not the end, because it is not going to be.

But this may be the end of www.raghav-the-gandalf.blogspot.com ; because form is temporary,

but I will continue in www.raghav-the-gandalf.spaces.live.com ; because class is permanent.

Sydney Dust storm

Hi,

This has been long over-due. These are pics from my balcony on the day of Sydney dust storm.

Travel 3

I was in Germany for two cold and chilly weeks. I was highly excited when i landed there and when my local guide picked me up from the station, even though i was shivering, i could hardly realize that. We talked and slowly  made our way to my accommodation. It took one hour, but it took us that long because i was a weekend. We met my landlady, a charming lady, and they both talked and my guide later on translated the things to me. By the way, my guide is a student of the professor i was visiting. He was very helpful throughout my stay in Germany. My room was amazing, much more than i had expected and quite cheap. The landlords were such nice people, both spoke alright English and made me feel more than welcome. They ordered me to stay at their place the next time i go to Germany.

Coming back to the weather, it was chilly, wet and chilly and more wet. There were just couple of sunny days in Germany, but i loved the place. It was absolutely amazing. I was in the city of Dortmund. One might have heard about Borussia Dortmund! it is the local football club. This club has a mad mad following. I managed to attend a game there, what an atmosphere! The game was a nil-nil draw but the atmosphere in the stadium was nothing less than spectacular. The fans were simply right behind the team, jumping, shouting and waving and clapping. Truly Signal Iduna Park has one of the best atmosphere in Europe, I heard that a lot of times but realized it was nothing less than the truth. Just amazing.

During the two weekends I toured the cities of Dortmund, Dusseldorf and Koln. These cities, like most of the other European cities, have not moved for centuries. The city centre has remained and this means the historical places are around the city. This makes tourism easier. I did not have much time for tourism but managed to see the cities by just walking around. Koln especially was so beautiful.

Then i travelled to Vienna. What a city! Pity i had to spend three days in the conference? I would not have had any problem if i had to spend all my days in the conference. The university was nothing like a university. It is a palace. A palace where one hears the echoes of some heavy historical footsteps. Footsteps of Schrodinger, Doppler, Kant, Freud, Boltzmann to name a few. Another important reason being the free-lunch!!! The one problem was the weather, very chilly.
And I am very tired with all I had to do in this trip. If it was just tourism I might have endured, but the stress of the conference and the work in Germany and what i expect when I reach Sydney tires me out. Add to this some bad news from Chennai. I had bad headache last night. I decided to not travel anywhere in Vienna today. Instead I went to the Albertina exhibition. They have paintings of Renoir, Monet, Manet, Picasso, Von Gogh, etc. It was nice to see their work.

But i am resting tonight, because I have a very long travel to Sydney tomorrow.

International audience!!

I signed up for google analytics some months ago to see how much my blog is read. It gave some interesting stats.

1. Total number of visitors: 325

2. Unique visitors: 220

3. 325 visits came from 18 countries (AMAZING! international appeal).

4. Number of pages viewed: 525

5. Average time on site: 1:16 mins.

Some of these visits have been through google search. Some of the keywords that lead to my blog are

1. sensible one liners

2. raghav gandalf mahatma speaks

3.one liners on smartness

4. raghav anduril gandalf

5."sydney carton"

6.'through my eyes ...ideal india'

7.+changing face of tamil film industry raghav

8.answer machine greetings lotr

9.arshavin

10.canon hg 10 club

Also I forgot to mention the list of countries of visitors.

1.India

2.Australia

3.United States

4.Netherlands

5.Germany

6.United Kingdom

7.Singapore

8.Canada

9.Belgium

10.Malaysia

11.Greece

12.Malta

13.South Africa

14.Pakistan

15.Brazil

16.Palestinian Territories

17.Spain

18.Japan

With my growing international appeal I should be nominated for next year’s nobel peace prize. “Why not?” Many seem to be asking the same question.

Many

I did many things in the last two weeks in Germany,

I have many things to say about my two weeks in Germany,

I got many things to do in Germany after two weeks,

and many things have happened in these two weeks.

But I am not going to tell them all because it would take many days to complete.

There are many things in my head, but sadly (and rightly so) not many people would be ready to listen to them all.

Many of these things I have seen in these two weeks would have been experienced by many people in many different situations, but did any one of them experience all these things in the same circumstance as mine?

I do not think they would have, and I am sure many people would agree with me on that.

I think that is the case with all the people. Each person experiences many things that many others too do but the circumstances and ordering of the many events differ in many ways. This makes what each person experiences unique.

This is one of the many beautiful things about life.

(PS after all this I have finally remembered what I wanted to write about. Watch out for the next blog!)

Travel part 2

I landed in Dusseldorf, Germany last evening. I was greeted by a small mess-free airport. It was a pleasant experience till I walked out of the aero-bridge.

The passport check was right in front of the aero-bridge. I, ofcourse, had a valid visa – which I showed to the officer behind the glass. He asked me the purpose of visit – and I told him sincerely. He then asked for any documents I had. Ah, I knew he would ask me that and I had specially printed out the documentation and had it with me in my folder. I pulled out the folder from my bag and looked for it.

“Where is it? I clearly remembered keeping it in the folder along with the documents for insurance and ticket quote and itinerary". The officer was more interested now. I gave him a smile and said, “It is right here, just a second.” In a heavily accented English, he said “OK”. I was ruffling through the papers and then I suddenly realized I was right. I did keep the document along with the insurance papers and travel quote and itinerary. But that was more than a month ago when I had applied for the visa. I had collected these documents and given it to the embassy. Ah, yes. I looked up at the officer and gave a stupid smile, “I don’t seem to have it here” , but I have it in my laptop and I could show it in 5 minutes.” I am not sure what the officer thought, may be that I am so stupid and could be of no harm to Germany or that I have a genuine and legitimate reason to be there and just forgot my document. He wanted to know if I was loaded with enough money – which I was and I showed him. And he let me go – a fine fellow.

I then walked out and picked up my luggage and took the train to Dortmund. There I was met by a friend who took me to my accommodation. The room was beautiful, much much more than what I had expected. This morning I met the professor and she was friendly and we had a brief discussion. Then I met Shyamal, a friend from my Bachelors degree, and it was good to see him after 4 years. Thats all upto now. I am planning to visit Berlin this or next weekend. It should be fun.

Later for Later for later.

Travelling

It has come to pass finally. I have been denying it for awhile.

I am travelling to a conference in Vienna in the end of November. And I have included a trip to Germany before the conference. So I will be there for two weeks before the conference. I thought if I am travelling this far, why not visit my Sister and Brother-in-Law. I had two options: 1. To visit London before Germany, 2. To visit London after conference in Vienna. With my parents already in London and planning to leave early November, I convinced my professor and decided to visit London first.

Thus here I am in London. I will be here for 10 days and then leave for Germany. The flight was LONG but enjoyable.

I am too tired to write more, so Later!

Importance of a “hello”

Year 1875, Thomas Christopherson’s home.

Thomas was a scientist in France. He had just finished making a machine that could possibly enable him to talk to a person at a far off place with a similar machine.

He picked up the instrument, dialled some number.

He heard “Trrrrrinnnng, Trrrrrinnng, Trrrrrinnnng….”

Cut to Alexander Bell’s home. Mr. Bell is working furiously on a machine, similar to Thomas’s, in his lab. It suddenly starts making this funny ringing sound, “Trrrrrinnnng, Trrrrrinnng, Trrrrrinnnng….”.

Bell’s assistant, Watson, urges Bell to do something to stop the horrible noise. Bell lifts a piece of the instrument which was connected to a bulky music player-kinda base through a wire. The ringing noise stops.

Cut to Thomas’s house. The ringing noise that Thomas was hearing had stopped and there was complete silence. Thomas could hear some noise from the other side.

On the other side, Bell and Watson were talking to each other in English trying to figure out how the sound had stopped.

Alas, Thomas did not know English, he thought it was some static signal he was getting.

A year later, on March 10, 1876, in Bell’s lab.

Bell had realized that the ringing noise he got an year back was actually the first phone call ever and that there was no conversation purely because there was no agreed upon protocol of speaking. For the last one year, Watson and Bell had many serious brain-storming sessions on what should be the protocol. Mrs. Bell had to stop them many times from entering into a fist fight. She would barge in saying "HELLO! there is a lady in this house, Don’t you have no manners?”. Only yesterday they both had reached the decision that the one word they had heard most in the last year should be the starting word in this protocol. And this came “Hello”.

Yes, of course it also helped that both Watson and Bell knew English and what Hello meant. Poor Thomas, if only he had learnt English.

PS: Of course, it is another matter that Watson and Bell had heard each other in that iconic telephone conversation purely because they both were loud guys and the wall separating them was made of thin layer of single bricks with lots of holes drilled into it.

PS:PS: You may doubt the validity of this story, you are welcome to Google for it or go to this web-link.

An interesting video about the Rich South Indian Culture

Yesterday, as a part of my research ;), i stumbled upon this very interesting video. This video runs for an hour and talks about the rich and prosperous culture of South India which has been forgotten by almost many of us. It is worth watching and will learn a lot. For those who were excited to know how the pyramids were built, there were much bigger and tougher buildings built in more mysterious ways. Many of the temples in South India are so rich and big and beautiful – not many of us are surprised at how they were built. Not many of us are inquisitive of how cities were managed.

Many such things are talked about in this video. Watch it.

Being a Si©k man

It was Friday evening – one week ago. I was on the bus home. I had just completed the game had to rush home to leave to a friends place. I was hoping for dinner there. I am a regular post-graduate research student who likes free food. On the bus I began wondering about my physical ability. I had been in Sydney for 2 years and had never been to a doctor. In fact I did not even know the procedure of how to make an medical insurance claim if i had to see one. I was proud of myself, 2 years and no doctor.

Disaster struck the very next day. I was in another house and talking with a paati in tamil. Suddenly I felt a chill run down my body. Something was wrong. I quickly pulled on my jacket. But the chill did not go down. My body was burning. I struggled in their house for 2 more hours and we were given big bars of chocolate(this is apart from food). On the drive home, the chocolate in my hand, melted. Yes inside the cover was molten chocolate. I did not realise i was burning so much. Sunday was more of the same, was having fever. I took paracetamol. I did not want to go to the doctor and break my track record for a silly fever. It was supposed to be alright by Sunday Evening. On Sunday after noon, I was repeating to myself this, I am not sick, I am not sick. Then I suddenly started laughing. My friend was surprised, he thought i had gone nuts. I replied, It is true, I am not Sikh.  That was a sick joke.

Come Monday morning I was supposed to go to the city to collect my passport from the German consulate. I managed that. I say I managed that because I did. It was so difficult. I was taught the definition of ‘Giddy’. I cannot even remember talking to the person in the consulate, it was all over-my-head. However I did have enough left in me to check the passport and the visa. I came back to Eastwood. On the way up to the city, I had decided that there is no postponing things, I had to go and see the Doctor. My 2 year record, I was so proud of it. I always felt like an iron-man, even though i knew it was a lie. How many of us lie to ourselves to make us feel better about ourselves? This was one of those lies. And it worked very well. But now I was going to let go of it. That is exactly when I realized, I think far too much even when feeling feverish and Giddy!

Then I made a flash decision – going to the doctor, no debating it. And I went to the doctor right from the railway station. Registered myself in, met the doctor. The doctor stuck something inside my ear and it beeped very loud, and she told the eternal truth. YOU HAVE FEVER. Wow! was I surprised, she only had to ask me. She said carry on with the paracetamol, you might have caught a virus. How did she deduce that? Some doctor trick, I guessed. But as long as it works. She said carry on with paracetamol for 2 days, it should die down by then. I religiously paid 35$ for this invaluable piece of wisdom and i still have to claim it. I walked out and came home. I have been dutifully taking paracetamols for breakfast and dinner every day since. Things have become better than before but no where close to end. So I went to the doctor again.

Yes, I went to the doctor for the second time in a week. It was Thursday. Gone was the no-doctor record, let us make yes-doctor record. That was not the idea really. The Doctor looked at me as if saying, Oh! you again. What is wrong now, you could not cut your toe-nails? I told about the current situation. And she said, it is a virus, you should give it time. Dont worry. If it does not go down by weekend, take this anti-biotic. I was ecstatic, over the moon, i managed to get a prescription from this doctor. But the weekend is just 5 hours away and I still am not looking hale and healthy. May be I should use it?

I dont know what, why and how I wrote this thing, it has been a bit spinny up in my head today. Hopefully I can break my 2 years record in the coming years. That is all i am thinking of. Being sick is really sick.

Anyways, dont read this.

raghav

important one liner

People who do not keep in touch with mathematics regularly, grow dumb.

(True story, my own story!)

glorious bastards

Today Deepak and myself went for Inglorious Basterds. It was a typical Tarantino movie. A well made movie. It had lots of comedy, fresh story line, interesting twists. All the actors have come up with amazing effort. The camera had fresh angles. It was an amazing movie. Worth watching another two times at least.

I am not going to say anything more. Do yourself a favour and watch it. I would tell you this, the actor playing Hans Landa of SS has done an amazing job. Watch it, Watch it, and Watch it!

Sketch once more!

Another sketch by Siddharth. I am sure he would like to know your views. So please feel free to drop in what you think about his sketches. It would help him to improve.

Tomorrow?

During the school days, we used to hoist the Indian flag and sing the national anthem every Friday. I always felt goose-bumps when I sang the national anthem. I am not sure about the people who heard me! I was learning about Indian Freedom struggle. The fight against the British oppression made my spine tingle. I used to feel a bit sad at having missed out the freedom struggle. I remember distinctly feeling unlucky for having not fought for freedom, for not having done my bit. It was then that I realised I wanted to join the army. I wanted to fight for my country, spill my blood for India.That was my first ambition.

Then in my tenth grade, I got this fascination for Astrophysics. I am still not sure what triggered it. I wanted to look at stars, I wanted to do the math behind them. I am sure I did not comprehend what the field was about. But I wanted to be an Astrophysicist. And this dream was there with me for 2 years or more. This was my second ambition.

I finished my 12th grade. All my friends were writing the exam for Engineering selection. But I did not want to do that. I was different from them. I wanted to prove it. I did not take those exams. I wanted to pursue pure science. I felt pure science was somehow purer than engineering. It was during that time I wanted to get a PhD. Did I know what it meant? No way. Why did I want to do it? No idea. I did not ask anyone either. I was partly afraid of knowing the answers for some reason. By now I was no longer sure about astrophysics, but I came down to at least physics.

I joined my Bachelors in science degree and I wanted to graduate with a BSc Physics. In my second year, I realized that Physics was tough job and I did not like it that much. Also many of my classmates were better than me in Physics. I always liked Chemistry but I never felt at home in a chemistry lab. For some reason I was alright in mathematics. When it came to the end of second year it was time to choose between the three. I remembered many of my friends saying I was good in mathematics, and I chose it. I did alright. I enjoyed it too. It was right down my alley. I was at home, did not have to sweat at all. Right now my ambition was only getting a PhD. Did I know what it meant – NO.

 

I loved analysis and algebra. After sometime I started not liking the application part of mathematics. It was like adding water to milk, adding applications to mathematics. I felt applied mathematics was like adding impurity. I realised all my classmates wanted to do applied mathematics. I felt left out, I was odd man out there. If I stayed there for my masters, I would be doing programming and applied maths. I would not be doing any analysis or algebra. This thought made me decide to come out.

I came back to chennai for my Masters in mathematics. How fast time runs. I still had not much clue about PhD. But did not want to accept that. The first year of my Masters was very easy, I did not have to work hard. I became lazy and this did not help in my second year. I always loved Logic, so I took a course in Logic. The professor was the best. He was also my project guide, a very brilliant man. A lot of the students in my masters were applying for PhD in many foreign countries. I did not want to be left out.I don’t think I really wanted to do it anymore. But I did not have any other idea. I did not even attend the campus interview. Why? My professor knew another professor in Australia and told me to apply here. And I did, and I came over here. I still had no idea what PhD involved.

 

After two years of working, I now know about the research life. It is nice. But do I want to continue doing research for the rest of my life? Right now I do not know what to do? What is my goal right now? At present I just want to finish my PhD and graduate. What next? No idea.

Sometimes I toy with this idea of becoming a writer. I do not know what else to do. My head tells me to be optimistic and look at the present. My heart sometimes has real trouble in listening to my head. It wants to feel secure about the future. My heart is justified in feeling that way, but my head says “You are just 24, plenty of time to make mistakes.”

Another sketch

Another sketch by Siddharth. It is a self-portrait of how Siddharth will look in another 40 years.

He has been very generous to himself with the hair ;)

A sketch by a friend

This is a sketch by my friend Siddharth. I was amazed when i first saw it. Beautiful one. 

Keep it up Siddharth. Keep sending more of your sketches.

Happy birthday, Chennai @ The Hindu

Happy birthday, Chennai @ The Hindu

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Belief

I recently watched a very old movie “Chariots of fire”. Made in 1981, it is the story of Olympic Athletes representing GBR. It is a very well made story of how two athletes, a Jew and a devout Christian, find success in Paris. Yes, this is the story line. But the director tells a lot more.

 

It is a story of two athletes with different characters. One wants to win, the other just wants to run fast. One wants to run to prove a point to the world, another wants to run because that is his purpose. One who is ready to sacrifice everything for a medal, another ready to sacrifice running for God. One who doubts himself before the final battle, other believes that God is with him. Both find success by the end of the story. The story has been told in a very simple and touching manner.

The most important piece of the story, to me, was about the Christian from Scotland. There is a lot to learn from this character. He was fast, and he believed God made him fast to run. He says that when he runs, he feels His pleasure. Eric Liddell believed that God was on his side, he believed. He believed with all his heart. He would die but will not forsake his believe, such was the strength of his belief. When one believes in anything with such a fierce strength, it makes life a lot simpler. Think about it, when you believe – it is one less thing to reason about, one less thing to be logical about, one less thing to take stock and be sure about, one less thing to worry about. When you got one less thing to worry about, it gives you more time to enjoy whatever little pleasure one can take from life. Belief is a gift. Not everyone can have such unwavering belief.

 

Eric Liddell got me thinking. Am I lucky enough to believe in something? Do I believe in anything with such fervour. I was feeling miserable for an hour, trying to figure out if there is anything at all that I believe in. Right when I was about to give up and start cursing about everything that is wrong with my life, I realised (this was in the shower!) that I do believe in something. To me life is already complicated, why complicate it more. I believe in living simple. Not wanting too much, not asking for too much. Trying to enjoy and having fun in the littlest of things. Not being bogged down by the bleak future. I find, to my own surprise, that I have changed into this mindless optimist. Mindless? because there are times I just plain refuse to look into future. What does future hold? It is meant to be a surprise, let it be! All I need to know is everything is meant to be. This is what I believe in. And it makes my today easy to bear.

Believe – it is the most difficult thing to do, but it makes everything very easy.

Review of Before Sunset

 

This review written by Sachin.

 

I love creative & weird script and a 77 min movie !

"What if you had a second chance with the one that got away?"

It was a enthralling experience to watch a movie 'Before Sunset' - directed and produced by Richard Linklater.
When the movie ends, you end up thinking..... Is that the end of the movie? (May be waiting for one more sequel)

Can you imagine a movie ending on a dialogue as below:
Celine (slowly to Jesse): "Baby ... you are gonna miss that plane."
Jesse (slow pan in): "I know."

How simple can a movie be. It tells you that, you do not require money to make a movie :)
Just kidding ... it is one of the low cost and best movies I have ever seen.

The movie is shot in Paris, and only has two characters. The pace at which the movie unfolds is amazing.
No jazzy costumes, no heavy music, no sets, no locations ... only a dialogue between two persons.
Cafe, garden, a car and a small house ... that is it .. that is where is movie has been shot.

Refer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Before_Sunset for the plot. Read this, pretty interesting.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0381681/

Memories are wonderful thing when you do not have to deal with the past!
I liked this statement very much ... The heroine of the movie says so ... Watch it to know the background of this :)

Mind well, this movie is not for the people who do not like (or probably understand) off-bit movies.
That's why I am sending this email and recommending to selected friends of mine. :-)

After watching the movie, I came to know that it was a sequel of 'Before sunrise'.

Do watch both, if you a get a chance.

Cheers

Sachin.

Victorian Road Trip - 2

For some selected pics from the road trip visit

http://raghav-the-gandalf.spaces.live.com/

Cheers

Victoria Road Trip

The last week My mates and myself went on a road trip in Victoria. It was a four day trip covering the Great Alpine Road and the Great Ocean Drive and a visit to the Phillip Island.

Great Alpine Road

We started early around 4:30 in the morning from Melbourne. We reached Wangaratta around 10 in the morning after couple of important stops.  We had our breakfast there. It was a wet morning, and we all were worried about the weather, because we had planned some walks in Mt. Buffalo. The Great Alpine Road is divided into 3 parts.

1. Wangaratta to Bright. 

This leg of the drive had beautiful trees on either side of the road. It was not raining much in this part of the trip. We got down and took some real nice pics here. We had found out that Mt. Buffalo had lot of snow and it was likely to rain. So many walks were expected to be closed. We were also advised to get the snow chains for the car tyres. We reached the town Porepunkah. This was the last place to get the chains before the snow of Mt. Buffalo. Here we had our first disappointment. The shop informed us that the chains have to be returned at the same shop and not at Omeo (which is a town further down in the drive!). But the tourism information centre told us that such an arrangement was possible. If we take the chains at Porepunkah it meant that we had to come back from Mt. Buffalo to return the chains. This meant an unnecessary delay of more than 90 mins. We decided to go skip Mt. Buffalo and hit for Mt. Hotham. So we drove straight to Bright.

At Bright we got the chains. The shop at Bright had arrangement that we could drop the chains off at Omeo. By now the drizzle had picked up and it was a bit heavy and real chilly. We had a quick demo of how to strap on the chains. It is real easy. We started from Bright and headed to Mt. Hotham.

 

2. Bright to Omeo.

This is the second leg of the Great Alpine Road. Reaching Mt. Hotham we paid crazy fees for parking. By now we were real hungry. Let me say this, being vegetarian is such a punishment. I had some steamed veges and rice. Then we came out in the chilly, wet, snowing weather. It was amazing. So beautiful, so white. It was a treat to the eyes and a punishment to the skin. I was shivering. We got some snow boots and started walking up a peak. I had never actually expected to see something like that. So beautiful. So much snow. We had a good time in the snow, took some real nice pics and walked down.  Around 4 pm we started to Omeo. Omeo is a small town in the Great Alpine road.

We had booked accommodation at Omeo for the night. We reached the place around 5:30 and we were all tired. After 20 mins rest, we headed out looking for dinner. We ordered pizzas at a restaurant attached to the local bar. We were requested to wait in the bar. A town of 400 people max, around 50 people were there at the bar. We were the Strangers from outside. But dont expect stories of Racism, they all had a smile on for us. Such friendly people. But we did feel a bit uncomfortable, but that is because of us and not of their making. Our pizzas came and we headed back to our room. We had an early dinner at 7 pm and slept early.

3. Omeo to Bairnsdale.

We started on the third leg of the journey next morning. It was bright, clear sky. No sign of rain. It was a beautiful day for the drive. And we stopped at couple of spots for some photos. We also trekked to a nearby creak, leaving the car on the road. There was little water flowing. In summer, the snow at Mt. Hotham is supposed to melt feeding this river. Then after trying some car stunts, we left the place to reach the Buchan Caves.

This is where we left the Great Alpine road. We reached the town of Buchan. A friendly aussie town. We had our brunch here. Then we went over to the caves. These are caves with limestone formations inside. They were really beautiful. The guide requested us not to click photos everywhere and asked us to take photos only at designated places. A Desi family was also in the group, and as Desi’s always do, they clicked everywhere. We never listen to instructions, do we? We walked through the caves. At the last stop inside the cave, the guide asked us to switch off all our electronic equipment. Then he switched off the lights. It was pitch dark. He waited for a couple of mins and said, no matter how long you spend in a cave without light, your eyes never get adjusted to the darkness. It happens only in the movies.

We came out of the caves and did some bush-walking. We climbed a hill to a falls and had some philosophical discussions at the top of the falls and we trekked back. We then started to Lakes Entrance. This is a very nice place, looking out to the ocean. We had some food here, and strolled on the beach.

Here we decided to get back to Melbourne soon and visit the Crown Casino. Thus ended our great Alpine road trip.

 

Crown Casino.

We reached the casino and had our dinner first. Then Saideep and Nithin signed up for Casino membership. They were given 5$ free credit to play with. Saideep won a dollar and Nithin won 7$. Unfortunately, they both bet their winnings and lost everything expect 2$. We used the winnings to pay for our parking and left for home. We reached late around 12:30.

City visit.

We decided to see the Eureka towers the next morning and see some sight-seeing in the city before heading out to the Phillip Island. We had a lavish brunch at an Italian place. So much to eat. Then we headed out to the city. We found out the Penguins at Phillip Island come earlier than we had planned for. So we had to leave at once. It was a 150kms drive. We left at once. We reached exactly in time and we entered the place. Photos were not allowed, so i left my camera in the car. We waited in the cold weather for the Penguins. This is the only place where we can see the tiniest Penguins. (I am not really sure about this, but this is what i heard!). We saw so many tiny penguins. They were so beautiful. The announcer asked everyone to look under the cars for stray Penguins, very surprising ;). We left the island after seeing some beautiful creatures. We then left to reach the city in time to see the city from atop Eureka towers under the lights.

Eureka Towers

Eureka towers is similar to London Eye. They take us to the 88th floor in the building. We get amazing view of the whole Melbourne City from there. And under the lights, it looked spectacular. We again took some photos and enjoyed up there. The thing that amazed me most was, the lift took just 4 seconds to reach the 88th floor from the ground. We then strolled the streets in the city till we were tired. We left for home.

Great Ocean Drive

This is the most famous road in Australia. It runs along the ocean coast line for more than 100 kms, ending  near 12 Apostles. We planned to do the drive the reverse. Start from 12 Apostles and drive along the coast to reach the city. We took the inland freeway to reach 12 Apostles. On the way, there was a small town Camperdown. Sibi noticed that there was a volcanic crater nearby. We headed for it now. We found one of the most amazing sites. And even after seeing some breathtaking sites in the last two days, this clearly was way ahead of all the things we had seen that week. Such beauty. The crater was now a lake, and the wind was just so forceful. I had to make sure that I was not blown away. And the whole place was filled with lush greenery. This is one place everyone should see before they die. What a beauty.

Just as we left this place, heading for 12 Apostles, it started drizzling. When we reached 12 Apostles, the rain eased a little and we ventured out to see the place. It was amazing. But then the weather had turned rotten and the rain started coming down hard. This meant the rest of the Great Ocean Road was going to be a waste. We drove on still. It darkened quick. Around 5:30 it was very dark outside. And the Ocean was no longer visible. We decided to go inland and reached Melbourne. We were so hungry by now. We went to a South Indian Restaurant and had some authentic southern food. It was nice.

 

We then reached home. We all had our flights next day and Sibi had to work. But it was Nithin’s birthday that night.

Birthday!

We had ordered a surprise cake for Nithin and got some gifts. We made him cut the cake at midnight. We surprised him with the cake and the gifts. It was a nice way to end the trip. Happy birthday, Nithin.

 

Next day, we all boarded our flights and headed home. A lot happened in our flight too. But that is a different story and for later.

Overall, it was a wonderful trip. And we drove around 2000kms in 4 days out of which Sibi drove 1900 kms and I drove 100 ;) It was nice to meet Sibi and Nithin after a long time and we had a lot of fun.

I would advise everyone in and around in Australia to make the Great Alpine Road trip, if possible in Autumn. The trees look spectacular at that time of the year, although there may not be enough snow.

Bye for now.

Here’s more one-liners

Love is - missing someone at the pinnacle of success.

Fear authority for not what it can do to the powerless, but for what it can do to the one wielding it.

David And Goliath

 

In the biblical times, there once was a David, a young boy (not sure, there are many different views) and there was Goliath, a giant (again, supposedly).

Their paths crossed, and the stage was set for one of the oft-repeated stories of all times.

When David met Goliath ….

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they shook hands(!). Yes, the custom of shaking hands was prevalent even in that age.

Some more One-liners

*Claimer – These one-liners are original products of the author’s, not quotations taken from some  unknown poet!*

Ifs and buts do not make for a life.

LOVE! I give you the darkest region of my heart, make it the brightest.

Behold the Palantir

They are not all accounted for, the lost seeing stones, said Gandalf, We do not know who might be looking.

- The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Rings.

The seeing stones, Palantir, were made by the Elves of Valinor, by the Noldor and quite possible Feanor.  They were used to see and communicate with the other such stones kept at virtually any part of the world. There were many such stones made. One was lost to Sauron, one Saruman found, one was safe in the White tower. But what happened to the rest? The Master Stone was kept in the tower of Avallónë on Tol Eressëa, but no record is made of successful communication from any palantír of Middle-earth to this one. Until now. It has been discovered, it is a Canon HG10.

In my quest to name my camera, I had requested suggestions from my friends and those who read my blog. After some very nice suggestions, I have named my camera Palantir. May it see far and wide!!

The visions of Palantir, edited in Anduril, will be posted on the my blogs for the whole world to behold.

Hail! the victorious fellowship of Anduril & Palantir.

Peace.

Some more one-liners

For One who helps himself, God is a luxury.

Smartness is not solving a problem, rather avoiding it.

beautiful moon from the view of Canon HG10.

I bought a video camera sometime back. IT is a Canon HG10. And I have been learning to make some nice videos using that.

I still haven’t got around to naming my camera as such. I would welcome some suggestions.

I am posting one video here that i shot. I am posting another video in the www.raghav-the-gandalf.spaces.live.com.au.

A wonderfully tasty looking

Raita… made by my room mate. And it did taste good…

Champions League 2008-09

The second semi-final Chelsea Vs Barcelona.

At the end of the first leg at NC, the teams were tied 0-0. Well done! Chelsea! was the chant on almost all lips. Barca were shocked. Add to that the card to Puyol and injury to another defender, Barcelona were looking in bad shape. With the home advantage, Chelsea looked good, but only just. With a front-line that any club would love to have, Barcelona are a threat anywhere and anytime.

Interestingly, Chelsea managed to keep the Catalan Giants to nil for 180 minutes. This is a feat no one has managed this season. But they were undone by some shoddy refereeing and bad luck.

Bad luck.

Bad luck seems to follow Chelsea wherever they go. For example, last year CL finals they lost in the last minute. Awful luck, mate! And this time around, again the same story, in the stoppage time they were beaten by Iniesta's kick. The only chance for a trophy this season for the London club now is in the FA cup. They face Everton in the finals.

Why is this so? Should Roman buy Kaka? Or may be Ronaldo? Or Messi perhaps! Would this solve their bad luck? I seriously doubt it. Chelsea have long been good team. But they haven't taken the next step to greatness. It doesn't come by buying star players, pouring in millions of pounds. It comes from the quality of the players and their self-beliefs. When Chelsea start to blame themselves for their misfortunes, when the players take the blame on themselves instead of heaping it on the manager, they will progress.

Manchester United Vs Barcelona. That would be one heck of a finals in Rome. Would anyone have a spare ticket for both the match and the flight?

Champions League 2008-09

Well! Well! Well! What do we have here? A possible Champions League Finals 2007-08 repeat.

Manchester United Vs Arsenal – the first semi-final,

Chelsea Vs Barcelona – the second semi-final.

I got up early 4:45 AM to see both legs of Manchester United Vs Arsenal. Although the first leg at Old Trafford was not really exciting, the second leg at the Emirates stadium was amazing.

Background.

A very young Arsenal side have stolen my heart with their brave and fearless football both in the Premier League and in the Europe. They had to deal with lack of experience and so many injuries. The addition of Arshavin to the Gunners squad was just a fairy tale. When Arshavin became famous in the EURO 2008, he was tipped to move from his Club St. Zenits. And I could not imagine him anywhere else than Arsenal, and that’s exactly where he landed. And he took to Wenger’s style of play like fish to water. He has been amazing in the Premier League, adding a whole new dimension to the Gunner’s style of play. They have not won a trophy in the last four seasons - too long for a top European club. Manchester United haven’t won a game in the new Emirates Stadium. And they were leading at the end of home leg 1-0. Arsenal would have been and were happy with that result. Arsenal are a predominantly attacking outfit. They are not known for outstanding defence, add to that injuries to two main defenders. Arsenal were precariously poised for their home match. They cannot afford to lose a goal. But lose a goal, they did.

The slip up.

In the 2008 Champions League finals in Moscow, Chelsea faced Manchester United. It was a slip that ensured the title for Manchester United. Chelsea captain Terry slipped on his run-up during the penalty shoot out. Had he not slipped, he might have scored, won the title for Chelsea; Grant might have kept his job. A defender losing his foot-step ensured the red devils winning the title. This time around, a defender losing his foot-step ensured Park scored a goal, an important away goal that broke Arsenal hearts. Poor young Gibbs cannot be blamed for slipping when an experienced Terry slipped. Sir Alex should be thanking the shoe makers ;).

The second goal.

When Arsenal were still under shock after the first goal the world’s best player put the ball at the centre of the net to double the deficit and put the leg beyond any doubt. Arsenal needed 4 goals to make it to the finals and that too in 78 mins. With Manchester United having given away only 5 goals in the whole European season, 4 goals in 78 mins needed more than a miracle. And by then Ronaldo was having the time of his life, tormenting the Gunner defence at will. He was to score again in the second half.

Arsenal still played some attacking football, but they just couldn’t find any space. The Man-U mid-fielders played deep in the second half, not giving any free space. Adebayor was not given any space, Van Persie was not getting much of the ball. Walcott was double-teamed by Evra and Rooney.

Chelsea Vs Barcelona

This is one match I am not able to read into, what with the first leg at NC being 0-0. Barca are wonderful with their attack, their defence is weak for the second leg. Chelsea is wonderful defensively but under Guus Hiddink they are doing good up front too. So who is in advantage? If Barca score they have better chances of going through, but at home Chelsea are more likely to score more. This will be one heck of a match. Lets see if Chelsea back-line can keep the Barca front-line once more.

A new start!

I have started another blog. I hope those who read my blog would also visit this site. The main reason to move here is because the looks of this new blog are way cooler.
I tried to change the template here, but could not do much. So, here goes.

please visit www.raghav-the-gandalf.spaces.live.com

sensible forward

"it's amazing when strangers become friends, but its sad when friends become strangers. I never want to lose u as a friend!

I met u as a stranger.
Now i have u as a friend.
I hope we meet in our next walk of life where friendship never ends."


One of the rarest of the rare good forwards i received.
I got it from Koka.

More One-liners

A Revolution does not need a loud mouth or strong hands, but a strong heart.

I become stronger not with every victory but with every defeat.

One-Liners!

I sometimes make up lovely one-liners! I just figured that I could write them down on my blog, may be useful to someone.

They will be under the tag One-liners.

Here goes the first one,

Use your vices wisely.

When you give someone space in your heart, someone gives you some space in theirs.

during one trip

Mahatma Speaks

There is an indefinable mysterious power that pervades everything, I feel it though I do not see it. It is this unseen power which makes itself felt and yet defies all proof, because it is so unlike all that I perceive through my senses. It transcends the senses. But it is possible to reason out the existence of God to a limited extent. Even in ordinary affairs we know that people do not know who rules or why and how He rules and yet they know that there is a power that certainly rules. In my tour last year in Mysore I met many poor villagers and I found upon inquiry that they did not know who ruled Mysore. They simply said some God ruled it. If the knowledge of these poor people was so limited about their ruler I who am infinitely lesser in respect to God than they to their ruler need not be surprised if I do not realize the presence of God – the king of Kings. Nevertheless, I do feel, as the poor villagers felt about Mysore, that there is orderliness in the universe, there is an unalterable law governing everything and every being that exists or lives. It is not a blind law, for no blind law can govern the conduct of living being and thanks to the marvellous researches of Sir J. C. Bose it can be proved that even matter is life. That law then which governs all life is God. Law and the law-giver are one. I may not deny the law or the law-giver because I know so little about it or Him. Just as my denial or ignorance of the existence of an earthly power will avail me nothing even so my denial of God and His law will not liberate me from its operation, whereas humble and mute acceptance of divine authority makes life's journey easier even as the acceptance of earthly rule makes life under it easier. I do dimly perceive that whilst everything around me is ever changing, ever dying there is underlying all that change a living power that is changeless, that holds all together, that creates, dissolves and recreates. That informing power of spirit is God, and since nothing else that I see merely through the senses can or will persist, He alone is. And is this power benevolent or malevolent? I see it as purely benevolent, for I can see that in the midst of death life persists, in the midst of untruth truth persists, in the midst of darkness light persists. Hence I gather that God is life, truth, light. He is love. He is the supreme Good. But He is no God who merely satisfies the intellect, if He ever does. God to be God must rule the heart and transform it. He must express himself in every smallest act of His votary. This can only be done through a definite realization, more real than the five senses can ever produce. Sense perceptions can be and often are false and deceptive, however real they may appear to us. Where there is realization outside the senses it is infallible. It is proved not by extraneous evidence but in the transformed conduct and character of those who have felt the real presence of God within. Such testimony is to be found in the experiences of an unbroken line of prophets and sages in all countries and climes. To reject this evidence is to deny oneself. This realization is preceded by an immovable faith. He who would in his own person test the fact of God's presence can do so by a living faith and since faith itself cannot be proved by extraneous evidence the safest course is to believe in the moral government of the world and therefore in the supremacy of the moral law, the law of truth and love. Exercise of faith will be the safest where there is a clear determination summarily to reject all that is contrary to truth and love. I confess that I have no argument to convince through reason. Faith transcends reason. All that I can advise is not to attempt the impossible.

-Mahatma Gandhi.

Vaishnava Jana to

1. vaishnav jan to tene kahiye, je peer paraaee jaNe re ... [He is the true Vaishnava who knows and feels another's woes as his own]
par dukkhe upkar kare toye, man abhiman na aaNe re ... [Ever ready to serve others who are unhappy, he never lets vanity get to his head]

2. sakaL lok maan sahune vande, nindaa ne kare keni re ... [Bowing to everyone humbly and criticising none]
vaach-kaacch-man nischaL raakhe, dhan-dhan janani teni re .. [He keeps his speech, deeds and thoughts pure; blessed is the mother who begets such a one]

3. sam-drushti ne trishNaa tyaagi, parastree jene maat re ... [He looks upon all with an equal eye. Having rid himself of lust, he treats and reveres every woman as his mother]
jihvaa thake, asatya na bole, par-dhan nava jhaale haath re ... [His tongue would fail him if he attempted to utter an untruth. He does not covet another's wealth]

4. moh-maayaa vyaape nahin jene, draDh vairagya jena manmaa re ... [The bonds of earthly attachment hold him not. His mind is deeply rooted in renunciation]
raam-naam shu taaLire laagi, sakaL teerath tena tanmaa re ... [Every moment he is intent on reciting the name of the Lord Rama. All the holy places are ever present in his body]

5. vaNa lobhi ne kapat rahit chhe, kaam krodh nivaarya re ... [He has conquered greed, deceit, passion (lust) and anger]
bhaNe Narsaiyyon teno darshan kartaun, kuL ekoter tarya re ... [The sight of such a Vaishnava, says Narsinh, saves a family through seventy-one generations]

Will I ever see one? Will I ever become one?

The Changing Face of Tamil film Industry

The not-so-macho-looking macho heroes, thugs with unruly hair who roam in packs but disciplined enough to come at the hero one-at-a-time, heavy looking thugs getting beaten up by beaten-rice sized heroes – ah! those fancy days of Tamil cinemas. Those days when the dialogues were as innovative as the idea of a circular wheel today, and the sequences of scenes followed the diktats of the days of Sivaji and MGR, when watching movies was an effort of sitting through and appreciating the talent of the teams involved in repeating the age old chants just like the school kids – the days of Tamil cinema from the time I began to watch movies. Thankfully, I think those days are coming to an end. Why? Some of the movies coming out now are highly refreshing; they give me the audacity to hope. The songs are still there, the fights are still there, the villains are still getting beaten up. But there is an element of believability. Some of the recent movies like 1. Unnale Unnale, 2. Anjathey, 3. Saadhu Mirandaal, 4. Polladhavan, 5. Vennila Kabaddi Kuzhu, 6. Subramaniapuram have been so good to watch.

What is so special about these movies? Well, they start with a story - stories with a bit of realism here and there. The crew have started with a story, worked on it, and then went to cast the actors. This is a path-breaking effort in Kollywood! Making a movie had become a mechanical work. Get dates from a huge hero, put in 4 songs and an item number, arrange 4 fights in the middle, and then add mother or father or both, let us see who is supposed to be killed by the villain and how the hero fights the injustice. How much difference it makes when you start with a story rather than a hero! Albeit some of the movies listed above have some negatives, there are still some refreshing things in the movie that even out, if not outweighing the negatives. It just shows that a bit of realism here and there would go a long distance in outweighing the unwanted aspects and repetitions.

I have heard of some more movies which are good, but then it has been long since I have taken anyone's word for Tamil movies. When I land on some such movies, maybe I will like them. But please, someone should say no more formula movies. For example, Villu was an absolute disgrace. Prabhu Deva should be stopped from movie making.
Out-of-place songs go a long way in irritating a viewer. Making a movie is similar to writing a paper to publish in an academic journal. Any piece that is out of place, or is not substantiated or is unnecessary would only irritate the reviewer and increase the chances of rejection. Repetition of an earlier work, without acknowledgement, would surely be kicked out. The same applies here too. Did the piece of prose in italics irritate you because it was out of place and without any connection? The same happens in movies too.

One could argue that it is just for entertainment and no need for strict rules in making movies. I say, making movies is their profession. And any professional cannot be allowed to get away with mediocrity, be it in any field. Cricket is for entertainment, would the fans keep quiet if the team does not perform well? Why doesn't the same apply here?

How did it come to this!

The Munna Bhai wants to contest in the coming Lok Sabha election. Our favorite Munna wants to be a member of the parliament. He wants to represent the lucky people of some constituency. He wants to make decisions for them, take responsibility for their lives. He wants to do a lot of good for the people in that constituency. A very nice and appreciatable intention. His father, late union minister, would be very proud of him.

Let us see what his qualifications are:
1. Popular bollywood star,
2. Son of a late union minister.
Are these enough? Let us look a bit more:

3. A well known ex-drug addict,
4. Convicted for having a machine gun,
5. Convicted for having no license for it,
6. Convicted for procuring it illegally,
7. Accused in the mumbai terror blasts,
8. Accused of having ties with Dawood Ibrahim.

Does this look like a winning resume for any job? Are these the qualities we look for in our representative to anywhere, let alone the Lok Sabha? Should the Election Commision allow him to contest this election, this would be a new and ground breaking low in the history of Indian Politics. This would be a shameful event, and an insult to the great statesmen of the past. It would be an insult on the parliament and the countless MPs and the few statesmen who have walked that ground, sat there, spoken there, made decisions there, represented the people there.

I do not hate Sanjay Dutt, he is a gifted entertainer. I am among the countless fans of the Munna bhai movies. But movies are not real life. If he was Munna, then he was also the Don in many movies. Are the Indian people so blind, or so forgiving? This is not just against Sanjay. This is also against the countless convicts and accused who are contesting the elections. This is also against the countless fakers and frequent visitors to the jails who are contesting the elections. I just wish that EC would have a backbone and deny these gentlemen tickets.

Of these, Varun Gandhi deserves a special mention. He has maligned the name of Gandhi. He has maligned the bloodline of Nehru. He has maligned the two greatest statesmen this country has produced. Stopping him from contesting the elections is the most lenient punishment that I can think of.

Idiots in this beautiful world!!

Number One Idiot of 2006
I am a medical student currently doing a rotation in toxicology at
the poison control center.
Today, this woman called in very upset because she caught her little
daughter eating ants.
I quickly reassured her that the ants are not harmful and there
would be no need to bring her daughter into the hospital. She calmed
down and at the end of the conversation happened to mention that she
gave her daughter some ant poison to eat in order to kill the ants.
I told her that she better bring her daughter into the emergency room right away.

Number Two Idiot o f 2006:
Early this year, some Boeing employees on the airfield decided to
steal a life raft from one of the 747s. They were successful in
getting it out of the plane and home.
Shortly after they took it for a float on the river, they noticed a
Coast Guard helicopter coming towards them.
It turned out that the chopper was homing in on the emergency
locator beacon that activated when the raft was inflated.
They are no longer employed at Boeing.


Number Three Idiot of 2006:
A man, wanting to rob a downtown Bank of America, walked into the
Branch and wrote this: "Put all your muny in this bag."

While standing in line, waiting to give his note to the teller, he
began to worry that someone had seen him write the note and might
call the police before he reached the teller's window.

So he left the Bank of America and crossed the street to the Wells
Fargo Bank. After waiting a few minutes in line, he handed his note
to the Wells Fargo teller. She read it and, surmising from his
spelling errors that he wasn't the brightest light in the harbor,
told him that she could not accept his stickup note because it was
written on a Bank of America deposit slip, and that he would either
have to fill out a Wells Fargo deposit slip or go back to Bank of
America.
Looking somewhat defeated, the man said, "OK" and left.
He was arrested a few minutes later, as he was waiting in line back
at Bank of America.

Number Four Idiot of 2006:
A motorist was unknowingly caught in an automated speed trap that
measured his speed using radar and photographed his car.
He later received in the mail a ticket for $40 and a photo of his car.
Instead of payment, he sent the police department a photograph of $40.
Several days later, he received a letter from the police that
contained another picture, this time of handcuffs.
He immediately mailed in his $40. Wise guy.

Number Five Idiot of 2006:

A guy walked into a little corner store with a shotgun and demanded
all of the cash from the cash drawer.
After the cashier put the cash in a bag, the robber saw a bottle of
Scotch that he wanted behind the counter on the shelf.
He told the cashier to put it in the bag as well, but the cashier
refused and said, "Because I don't believe you are over 21."
The robber said he was, but the clerk still refused to give it to
him because he didn't believe him.
At this point, the robber took his driver's license out of his
wallet and gave it to the clerk.
The clerk looked it over and agreed that the man was in fact over 21
and she put the Scotch in the bag.
The robber then ran from the store with his loot.
The cashier promptly called the police and gave the name and address
of the robber that he got off the license.
They arrested the robber two hours later.
Idiot Number Six of 2006:

A pair of Michigan robbers entered a record shop nervously waving
revolvers.
The first one shouted, "Nobody move!" When his partner moved, the
startled first bandit shot him.

Idiot Number Seven of 2006:

Arkansas: Seems this guy wanted some beer pretty badly. He
decided that he'd just throw a cinder block through a liquor store
window, grab some booze, and run.
So he lifted the cinder block and heaved it over his head at the
window. The cinder block bounced back knocking him unconscious.
It seems the liquor store window was made of Plexi-Glass.

The whole event was caught on videotape.
IDIOTS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD:
I live in a semi-rural area. We recently had a new neighbor call the
local township administrative office to request the removal of the
Deer Crossing sign on our road.
The reason:
"Too many deer are being hit by cars out here!
I don't think this is a good place for them to be crossing anymore."

IDIOT SIGHTING:

I was at the airport, checking in at the gate when an airport
employee asked,
"Has anyone put anything in your baggage without your knowledge?
To which I replied, "If it was without my knowledge, how would I
know?" He smiled knowingly and nodded, "That's why we ask."

IDIOT SIGHTING:

The stoplight on the corner buzzes when its safe to cross the street.
I was crossing with an intellectually challenged coworker of mine.
She asked if I knew what the buzzer was for.
I explained that it signals blind people when the light is red.
Appalled, she responded, "What on earth are blind people doing driving?!"


IDIOT SIGHTING:

When my husband and I arrived at an automobile dealership to pick up
our car, we were told the keys had been locked in it. We went to the
service department and found a mechanic working feverishly to unlock
the drivers side door. As I watched from the passenger side, I
instinctively tried the door handle and discovered that it was unlocked.
"Hey," I announced to the technician, "its open!"
His reply, "I know. I already got that side."


STAY ALERT! They walk among us ,and they REPRODUCE

Sudesi 2006, Movie review

The following blog entry is a word for word quote from one Praveen K in Chennai.

Finally!! I watched THE man on big screen and fortunately, being really strong hearted, I am living to tell you about it. I found it an amazingly entertaining movie and would recommend it to all you guys and gals out there for two main reasons. One, its super fun. Two, its totally economical - you can buy a ten rupees ticket and still manage to sit in A row, for all you need to do is turn back and understand that you are alone. So lets get to the review of Sudhesi, the film of the year 2006.

I watched the film on Saturday with a huge bunch of friends. The theater was jam packed with around 12 people and over 948 seats. The whistles began right away. It was a pleasant shock that the film was produced by Sudhish, an ultimate fan of Captain. I guess he chipped in with this movie before "That Four Letter Word" so that he could possibly invest the huge profits obtained from Sudesi. He told me that he did not sponsor Captain's clothing alone, which is understandable since buying off Aravind Mills is not an easy joke.

The film starts off on a political note : the death of the Chief Minister, which completely puzzled the viewers since Captain hadn shown his face yet. Riots break out everywhere after the new Chief Minister is decided and that is when Captain comes into the picture. Such an awesome intro he gets. A group of rowdies try to kill a poor man during the riot and suddenly the theater erupted as the camera joomed to show us a man wearing a sports soo and running on the road like Gilli Vijay. [Trivia
: This road later came to be known as Bannerghatta Road] When the camera joomed out, there was an amazingly youthful Captain in a red tracksuit. He was drop-dead gorgeous : five people dropped dead. Captain came walking towards the rowdies with camera trying to focus his face from beneath his shoes like in Chandramukhi, but unfortunately his stomach stood in between and they ended up focussing something private. This was followed by terrific fight sequences, at the end of which there was so much destruction that all the shop owners felt that it was more economical to allow the riot to continue next time.

Sudhesi is basically a do-gooder. He helps people round the clock. Velai vetti illa-nu vidhyasama solli irukkar director. He solves a mystery involving the death of a young boy and gives a half an hour lecture in the court which impresses the judge so much that he appoints him as a Public Prosecutor in his court. However, Sudhesi's extraordinary language skills played spoilsport since a Bublic Brasecootar made him appear like a Naidu Hall salesman he loses his job. He has statistics about each and every thing in the universe in his finger tips and often lectures people with such intensity that it would make even Ramanujam hate numbers. The only other thing possible was mentioning his vital statistics, which was left out since it hasn't been measured accurately due to inadequate technology.

As always, Captain proves that he is highly romantic. He is constantly nagged by his mora ponnu who, for some reason, finds him to be the hottest person on earth and troubles him to marry her. I did not find any compelling reason why a girl would love Captain, considering the death rate of his heroines, unless ofcourse she'd been paid all the extra money like Isha Kopikar in Narasimha. So, the director had to be really smart and he was. All scenes were shot in the evening coz the heroine had maalai kannu noi.

Karunas has been included for comedy, but he pales in comparison to our MAN. I pity Sudish who ended up spending extra money for a redundant character. There is a scene in which Karunas and Sudhesi travel by bus. They were both supposed to travel on the footboard. However simple equations of physics showed that if that scene was shot, the bus would topple for obvious reasons. So Sudhesi alone got a nice place inside the bus, as a result of which it was completely crowded and Karunas had to hang on for dear life hoping that Captain doesn't sneeze or cough. In certain scenes, the direction was completely flawed - Captain says to Karunas, "Dei nee powder poosina panni maadhiri irukka" - it is always better to rehearse the scenes so that you don't end up saying the other person's dialogues.

Captain's costume in the movie were revolutionary. His wardrobe was provided by M.A. Jacob, the carpet people. The colourful flowers on his shirts are only found in two other places - bedspreads and ooty flower show. It is said Sudhish refused to buy faded jeans and so Captain bought normal 52inch jeans, forced himself into it and made faded designs with chalkpiece. Such wonderful costumes made Sudhesi appear so youthful that it gave us a glimpse of how Captain might have looked during his adolescent ages. He was equally scary then. He infact rides an Enticer with such ease that it looked like he was riding a tricycle. Such was his class. In one scene, the heroine jumps into the bathroom where she thinks Sudhesi is taking bath and with her looks matching that of her man's, the guy inside comes out shouting "Ayyoo Peyiiiii". Thank god Captain was not inside the bathroom, or else the heroine would have come out running. There is a duet song in the movie which has extremely relevant lyrics about Pongal festival. Captain has danced very lightly for this song and thus the heroine was reported to be safe.

Kadhai-la ippo dhaan taRning point. The Chief Minister and his right hand are totally greedy and selfish in this awesomely innovative script. They do lotsa kedi thanams including killing the ex-CM, which the right hand secretly tapes using a micro camera. This video falls on the hands of Sudhesi. After having watched Ramana, the right hand knew that this was highly dangerous since Captain was the only person capable of dragging and dropping new pieces of information into videos using Windows Media Player. The right hand comes looking for the CD and holds Sudhesi's mom a hostage with a knife and a gun simultaneously. But he had already seen Narasimha, he knew that Sudhesi would dodge all the bullets and decided to use a time bomb instead. He locks Sudhesi and his mom inside a room and fixes a time bomb. The bomb explodes. Mom dies. But amidst the flames thalaivar comes out flying. Sudhesi escapes. The bomb had actually thrown Sudhesi out of the house into a safe area. Friendly bomb.

In the second half of the movie, Sudhesi decides to use the CD and blackmail the CM to do good stuff for the people. The CM decides to kill Sudhesi and there is a super fight in a shopping complex with Captain wearing the kalyana band master dress seen in the posters. He freezes after every punch he delivers and the camera jooms to show his eyes in close-up which had as much sex appeal as a garbage truck. Even his coolers refused to stay in its place and flew away, but Captain pulls it back with a romantic stare and a there-is-nothing-like-early-morning-shitting smile.

Sitting on the stairs of a half-constructed building, Sudhesi proposes reforms in the medical field to the CM. This caused unnecessary expenditure for Sudhish, who had to pay compensation for damaging the foundation of the building. So next time onwards they decided to use fax mizeens. Sudhesi, who failed four times in fourth standard, now proposes educational reforms that take the entire state by storm. All this increase the popularity for the CM and he wins the elections easily, while it was the mastermind of Captain in the background!

So the CM calls Sudhesi to a place that is supposedly a factory but has a double cot in the manufacturing section. What sort of a factory would have a bed in such a place? Sudhesi senses that there is something fundamentally wrong and just as he expected the bad guys appear out of the blues. Plenty of wired stunts in this scene with Captain being wired with Amman TRY Murukku Kambis and lifted by cranes. One senseless guy tried hitting Captain with a steel rod, which just bends around Captain's wrist like a watch. What a man. Suddenly one bad guy says, "Dei ivan romba nallavan da, evalo adichaalum chamatha freeze panni nikkaraan" and the fight stops. The CM apologises to Sudhesi and urges him to become the CM. That triggered a half hour Sudhesi sbeech which makes you desperate to take a dip in the evergreen cooum and close your ears with cork. After the speech, the CM commits suicide for making the deadly mistake of holding "talks" with Captain.

Captain is back in form after a really dry period last year. Punch dialogues like, "MGR-kum enakkum orey oru vidhyasam dhaan. Avar kai-aala adipparu, naan kaal-aala adippaen" made us have a hearty laugh in the theater after we made all crooked sentences out of it! (Purinjavanga sirichukkonga pa, inga me no tell that, naan good boy!) The heroine disappears after the first half since Sudheshi did not want to distracted by silly matters. Everybody wondered what happened to her, but I am sure she must have cancelled her dates on the pretext of going on a sight seeing to Dumil Kuppam, after the duet song with Captain.

I thank Sudhish from the bottom of my heart for giving us such a wonderful film, and hereby confer upon him the title, "Sudheeshi".

Dashrath – selfless hero!!

Dashrath is a daily wage labourer by profession who took pride in what he did for a living. He hails from a village called Gahlar nestled in the state of Bihar. The nearest town that had a reliable hospital was 80 kilometres away. Water and sanitation, let alone a decent school, was a huge problem in this village. In other words, a child in that village had hard time surviving.

People with health problems found it burdensome to walk on a muddy road for 80 kilometres to get their first ray of hope in the form of a pill or the doctor's advice. Some people even died on the way to the nearest hospital. Now, there was a short cut (relatively) across a hill to the nearest town. Well, the short cut wasn't exactly an easy path to take, which meant that it didn't really serve the purpose at all. Dashrath's family was no exception to the inconvenience. The rough road caused many an injury to people traversing that distance through the hill.

One day Dashrath's wife fell down on that very path when she was on the way to meet Dashrath with his midday meal. It was at this point when Dashrath decided to build a tunnel through the hill to make life easier for his village folk. Obviously the whole village thought Dashrath had gone insane. How could he think that he could dig a tunnel through a huge hill? Some dream it was! We all claim to welcome new ideas, but this didn't seem to go down too well with his people in the village. People laughed and dismissed it even before they heard him out.

Dashrath remained unfazed and began his task of cutting through rocks in his attempt to build a tunnel. His children abandoned him calling him a madman. The new name caught on and the rest of the village called him the same. He earned his daily wages as a coolie, and then devoted a few hours everyday to this new challenge. It was in 1984 when he spelt out his dream and began to make it happen.

22 long years passed him by, but not without the realization of his dream – the tunnel that he had visualized in his mind 25 feet in diameter and 1 kilometre long. Trucks could pass through the tunnel from the nearest town to Dashrath's village and back. The village was blessed with a new lifeline. People from the village could reach the nearest hospital in 10 minutes.

The road lay in front of him, his eyes shone with pride. It is another story that his wife wasn't there, the reason for this noble gesture. But he felt peace in his heart as he knew an entire village benefited from this work of art. The then President Abdul Kalam honoured him with the Padmashree Award for this very selfless act. The government offered to give him a piece of land and a house. It was more of an embarrassment than honour for Dashrath Manjhi. He requested the government to build a hospital in the land given to him. What selflessness before our eyes.

PS: written by Mr. Sandip Pradhan (Software Engineer in Dun & BradStreet TUADC, Chennai) for Radiosai.org

Cricket and terror!

Thousands and thousands of blog and news entries have been written about Lankan cricketers coming under fire in Lahore. It is a very sad event, very sad for the brave Lankan cricketers and their families; very sad for the security personnel who died to save the Lankan cricketers; very sad for Pakistani cricketers and Pakistani cricket and last but not the least Pakistani public.

When no other cricket playing nation was ready to tour Pakistan, the Lankan board did. It was a brave decision. It is important to remember that the Lankan board was under lot of financial stress. They needed the money and the Pakistan board need home series. And voila! they both found an understanding and the Lankan players were flown off to Pakistan. The Lankan players, I am not sure, had much say in that. They might have sympathised with the financial position of their board or maybe it was a part of a deal in letting the players attend the IPL. Anyways, off the brave Lankan Lions flew!

The last time Pakistan played a test match at home was in early2008 or late 2007. The Pakistani cricket team has always been one with loads and loads of raw talent. Every other year, they unearth a teenager who plays in the international level with no difficulty. They have established batters and their fast bowling talent pool needs introduction only in non-cricketing nations. These players have little or no cricket in the last two years. Just in his first test match in a long time Younus went on to make a majestic 300+.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has been in a pickle ever since its inception. Team politics, drug abuse, match fixing, terrorism, mysterious death, battle with rebel league. You name it and they have faced it. Their board is the single most experienced body in the world in tackling the media. I am not sure they are proud of it. But they don't seem to have a way out of it. In the last two years, they have been bending over their back in trying to get the other teams to tour Pakistan. They have been fighting off the inhibitions of all other boards and also of ICC. They are supposed to host 2011 world cup. This would be a huge financial bust for the board and tourism of the country.

The Pakistani public have been forced to watch quality test cricket on TV or watch first-class matches. They love their cricket as much as any sub-continental country. They would have missed cheering for their favourite team on the grounds. They would surely have missed the Rawalpindi express steaming in and delivering balls at screaming pace; they would have missed Younus and Younis send the ball crashing to the boundaries. After more than a year, they got their wish, but cruel fate would take that away from them quickly. They cannot expect to see a home test in another two years.

In all this the security personnel are easily forgotten. They are the faceless people who have sacrificed their lives to save the Lankan lives. Not just the Lankan lives, they have also saved whatever pride is left in the Pakistani government. Had any Lankan player been injured gravely, the whole world would found satisfaction in calling Pakistan a 'failed state'. This is not time to blame Pakistan, it is time to help Pakistan come to terms and fight the terror inside. And Pakistan still has time to save its face and come out good, is thanks to these security personnel. I hope they rest in peace. I also hope the government looks after the families of its fallen heroes. The Lankans owe their lives to these heroes.

Terrorists won't hurt cricketers? Time to think again.