Never Ending Lockdown And The Cinema Chronicles:

Well looks like the Covid-19 lockdown is a never ending dream running on loop..
I’m happy that I have got a lot of time to spend with my one year old son and hopefully creating a bond for life..That’s been my biggest takeaway in this lockdown season..But like a lot of people I miss doing a lot of things like eating out, socializing with friends and of course watching new movies on the big screen..watching movies has always been my thing to do.. My wife never used to watch that many movies before marriage but after marriage I always used to drag her to the movies even if she didn’t like it.. But after the birth of our son she decided to stay at home and spend more time with our lil buddy.... And since my movie buddy wasn’t there to accompany me I ended up watching a lot of movies alone..It kinda sucked but everything disappeared once the movie started..I’ve realized movies on the big screen had the power to completely put me at ease and the thoughts about my experience would linger in my end sometimes for days..This post is about an unforgettable movie watching experience..

This was sometime in August 2012 and I was living in Bangalore with some friends and my parents living in Chennai. I visit them for a weekend and my mom is in Kerala for some reason.. My father was a very strict disciplinarian during my kiddo days and these were the days when those lines were blurring.. I remember cooking a chatpata spicy Maggi and he had it and told me that he never tasted such tasty noodles :-p . We had a Sunday to kill and I was thinking what I should do with Pappa.. I was going through the Hindu when I came across an article bout a new Malayalam playback singer Sachin Warrier and his chart-buster songs from the movie 'Thattathin Marayathu’ .. I will have to say the period from 2000-2010 was a very grim period for Malayalam cinema as the biggies kept producing hapless movies that fell apart like a broken pappadam and that made me watch very few Malayalam movies..So coming back to this, I immediately checked YouTube for the trailer and there were also videos of two songs..First impression it looked fresh, had great songs ,lovely humour.. so decided i was going to watch this movie in theatre .. A Malayalam movie in theatre after a long time..Immediately checked the theatre listings in the Hindu and found that it runs in one of our old favorites..Ega theatre.. so called up my father and told him we will watch Sunday noon show and he was all set ..

Those were the times when the online bookings really hadn’t stuck gold and so it was all counter bookings.. But the movie has been running in Chennai for close to a month and I was pretty confident of getting tickets.Those were the days that I didn’t know the intricacies of riding a bike so my father rode and I went pillion..Reached the theater a good 20 minutes before and I asked my father to park the bike and I would get the tickets by that time..Went to the counter and I think the balcony/first class tickets were 60 bucks.. so asked the counter person for two tickets..Then came the shock that all tickets were sold out .. I was completely heartbroken.. Here I wanted to watch a movie with  my father after a long time and there were no tickets .. During my school and college days I have to tell you one of the biggest disappointments in life was not getting tickets for a movie that I wanted to watch badly..what crappy timing?? And now is the time zone where we imagine the ticket guy as the one with the magic wand and we start asking for unavailable tickets out of thin air..I was like ,bro please check .. all I need is two tickets.. The guy gave me a dirty look and then told me ..Thambi, only 10 rupee tickets available and I have exactly two of them.. I was like , I cannot sit on the first row.. The software engineer ego in me refuted the suggestion outright..That was the time my father walked in and he was saying can we go in.. I was like Pappa , there are no first class tickets.. only ten rupee tickets for the first row is available..He gave me a perplexed look and told me , we have come all this way and we shall watch it from the first row.. I just couldn’t believe what I heard and was laughing inside .. But my father was like come on, get the tickets else they also would get sold out..immediately gave the 20 bucks and grabbed the tickets.. I have to say that though Ega theatre has decent projection and sound system , it was a very basic theatre like most theatres in 2012 in Chennai.. so we walked in and went to the very first row..I’m not joking, our heads had to be inclined to almost 90 degrees to have a good look at the screen..But then the movie started , with great songs and comedy and I was hooked..And of course Isha Talwar looked ravishing on screen though she was in an intense competition with her guitar on who had the better expression.. But who cares.. she was damn pretty.. I was almost thinking if I was watching a Gautham Menon movie in Malayalam..The movie was over in about two hours .. after a close shave with a tragic ending I was happy that it had a satisfying end like how the whole movie had promised..


For me personally it was a turning point for Malayalam films as this pushed me in to watching more Malayalam movies till today and beyond.. But the best part was enjoying this movie with my Pappa for the first time sitting on the front row of the screen.. Here’s a thing bout my parents.. They absolutely love movies and if they love it they will make it a point to talk bout it for next 20 days digressing every situation in the movie.. When I sometimes call my parents in Kerala and if they sound bored, I ask them to go for a movie.. Though they love watching movies , they will never watch it alone.. That’s when we realise it’s not the movies it’s the time that they spend with us that truly makes them happy..So call them, spend time with them, do things with them they love doing because I can tell you the 20 bucks I spent that day was the best 20 bucks I had ever spent and it formed an everlasting memory etched deeply.. And after the movie you know what was the cherry on the top.. it was some delicious hot parotta with Andhra chilli chicken from Madurai appu hotel in Mogappair for lunch ..

Welcome to India , the rape capital of the world

For  the first and probably the last time i’m writing an article based out of sports. I’m writing this article on all the anguish that has been brewing inside me of the countless rapes that take place in our country. The thing that angers me even more is the callous attitude of the lawmakers, the so called dormant society ,the media,of the fathers  and the brothers and uncles.

Amidst all this chaos i just want to look where are we going wrong systematically..Like the security situation, the aftermath, the attitude of the lawmakers and their insensitive remarks in the media. I lived in Gurgaon which for people who don’t know is located just outside Delhi is part of the national capital region(NCR).  They call it the millennium city and its also the city supposedly modelled on Singapore. We just think that we can ape Singapore by having high rise buildings. I lived in that city for two years and its crying out loud for help. Absolutely  no public transport, no infrastructure and its a land owned by the real estate barons. Why is that in our capital city, one of the biggest cities in the world and in the land of democracy woman have to think again if they have to go alone after 9 in the night without a trusted male to accompany them. From my personal experience i have to say that i have accompanied woman after nine in Delhi and i have never felt very comfortable doing it.

   So where do we start in controlling this mess because if you have been watching the news channels you would have a fair idea of the multitude of rapes that take place in our country.Sadly in our country i have come across almost an authoritarian code on how women should walk ,sit ,dress in our country and even the educated class believe that women don’t deserve much of respect. I’m not generalising but there is a huge majority who still believe in this farce. I feel one of the major reasons is that kids come across domestic violence right in their homes where the father beats up the mother and the very idea that women does not deserve respect  gets imbibed in to his system. So the same callous attitude continues when he comments on the girl on the road,school or college.Another major roadblock is the security situation in the country. I believe we are terribly understaffed in the police department. In India the ratio of number of policemen per 1000 people is perhaps the lowest for any country. Sadly with the  number of rapes growing there is an urgent need to bring a strict, vigilant law to tackle and fast track such cases. I also firmly believe that accused in rape cases should be handed out the strictest punishment. But this can be a double- edged sword. The judicial system also should make sure that this law is not abused and used to trap the innocent.

The another thing that’s irking me so much is the irresponsible comments of the lawmakers and the media’s role in highlighting them. The Khaps of Haryana, who i firmly believe should be driven out for their draconian laws come out with comments like ‘girls should be married at 16 cos they will have men to look after their sexual needs and this would avoid rape. There was another person from the Khap community who said that fast food was a reason for the increasing rapes and not to forget Didi who said boys and girls should not mingle with each other as it would lead to rape. Not to forget her reaction to the Kolkata Park street rape when she treated the case as agenda by the opposition and media to malign her government. The fact that the media have tried to sensationalise these issues when it benefited  them and then to conveniently ignore them is a painful reminder.

I want to conclude by saying that whenever i have seen or taken part in a public forum on the issue of rape i have always found a large majority trying to restrain the woman community on what to wear,where to go,how to behave i think its high time that fathers treat their mothers as equal partners at home and then little boys should be strictly taught how to respect women and their choices and also to treat them as an equal entity of the society. Its a painful reminder and a warning.

The English Tragedy..

The Olympics , considered to be the greatest sporting spectacle is over. It was two weeks of sheer joy to see athletes bear fruit for the immense toil they have been through for many years. There were so many landmark achievements. Phelps fairytale ending, Bolt’s adrenaline thumping sprints to gold, USA’s continuing domination  in spite of the Chinese coming really close, Great  Britain’s fantastic performance and so many to speak on. As Indians we should be really happy with our record medal haul. Wait-a-minute? Should we really be? There are few things that still irk me. There are few things that still make me sad.

   We might have won six medals but should we really be happy with this haul. How many new stars has our system brought in? There might be few exceptions like VijayKumar and may be even Kashyap. Otherwise  it was almost the same lot of Narang,Nehwal,Sushil,Yogeshwar that we still were depending to win medals this time. When China can come up with almost 6-7 players  to tackle Saina, why can’t we come up with more women badminton players. This situation is applicable to all sports. Why did someone like Deepika Kumari who is No1 in the world flop like she did in London? How long can we keep on blaming the politicians who run the sporting federations in our country . Our politicians distributed crores of money to our deserving medal winners. But how much money is actually going to develop the infrastructure at the grass root level?

Are we really serious about Olympic sports in our country. Is sports part of our life and culture? We still want our kids to become engineers and doctors and work in the blood sucking MNC’s. We just go with the herd mentality of going with the populist opinion and never encourage our kids to indulge in any of their interests just because we don’t see a future in it. Now with T20 and IPL throwing great options of becoming millionaires even before they hatch from their shells, will budding youngsters think of any other sport other than cricket. Obviously we are not China who are obsessed with winning gold medals and they start training kids at a very young age to become future Olympic champions. They even partition a certain percentage of their GDP just to train athletes to become future champions. Let us not get in to a bashing game of constantly blaming out sporting federations. What are the steps that can be taken to realistically improve our current situation?  

 To start with, atleast one sport other than cricket should be made compulsory from the school level. And just to make our parents happy we could also award marks. How many play grounds does our children have just to run. It’s a real tough ask with the shocking real estate exploitation in our country where every possible empty space is screwed. Though we should not forget the contribution of corporates like Mittal Champions trust, Olympic gold quest , Monnet group who were responsible for training and providing infrastructure to many of our Olympians we still need a lot of investment from the corporate to take Olympic sport seriously other than cricket. We can start with small steps by trying to master one sport. Like Jamaicans are known for their sprinting, Uzbeks for weightlifting ,Chinese for badminton and table tennis, the U.S for swimming we also could possibly concentrate on one particular sport to become total conquerors. Sport like shooting, wrestling and boxing are bright prospects. We also need an able minister for sports. Mr Maken looks solid and promising and he has even vouched that we will win 25 medals by 2020. But governments might change. Some other person might become the minister and we are not sure if we will get the same level of commitment and zest from him. Rampant corruption and the undying will to hold on to the power positions of these multiple federations will not help things. Things need to change and they need to change big time.

This article is not to bash anyone or belittle the fantastic achievements of our Olympians. This also might look like a desperate attempt by a novice writer to improve the sporting situation in our country .With the sports federations are run in our country, the fact that our legendary Olympians have still managed to bring laurels to our country is magnificent. For a change let us celebrate the grit and determination of the legendary Marykoms, Sushils, VijayKumars ,Sainas, Yogeshwars,Narangs and let us hope this brings many budding athletes to take Olympic sport as a serious career option and let us hope for a gold rush four years down the line at Rio.Cherios!!!

Buffoonery and the Indian ring masters

As an Indian I have to out rightly say that the recent happenings in the Indian tennis fraternity has made me lower my head with shame. The infightings among the Indian tennis stars have been nothing but a farce. The Olympics considered to be the greatest sporting event in the world where team work epitomises the true spirit of the games. But whatever is happening right now seems to crucify the true meaning of the Olympic games  .

The whole buffoonery started with Mahesh not wanting to partner Lee and instead tagging on with his current partner Bopanna. Things got out of hand with an insipid selection committee who are apparently acclaimed internationally. They could have very well brought things under control by taking a firm stand that they would have the final word as far as the team selection was considered. But they let the situation slip away by openly stating that the team would not be the same without Lee. This gave birth to many conspiracy theories within the media that the selection committee was taking side with Lee  and there was also another story stating that the players dint want to partner Lee and were taking  sides with Mahesh as his sports management company are managing their careers.

Things certainly went out of control when Dr Paes, a former Olympian and Leander’s father came to the media stating Leander’s achievements and why he should get what he wants i.e Mahesh should partner Leander and not Bopanna or else Sania should partner Lee and not her regular partner Mahesh. Sania , after getting her wildcard confirmation rightly came out and blasted the two players on using her as a bait to get what they wanted and even more farcical was when Dr Lee asked for a letter of assurance from Sania that she would partner Lee . This blew her lid as she was always ready to partner anyone and it questioned her integrity.

Could things have been better had the media acted a little more responsibly? Guys from the media would say that finally the blame is on them. But everyone is to be blamed here. Irresponsible players with their bloated egos, a spineless tennis federation running the sport in the country or is it Dr Lee not behaving like a responsible Olympian.

Finally i just want to say that i don’t have any hopes that whichever or how many ever Indian tennis teams go to play at the Olympics ,I don’t expect them to win any medal or even if they do end up winning something by accident, I would not rejoice with them as neither the spirit won nor the rightful talent won.. The only one who ended up winning  are their self bloated egos and they can hang their medals in their drawing rooms and scream that they are the best. These sportsmen first need to be taught that absolutely no one is bigger than the game.

Is the master expecting a swansong?

Firstly this article is not about bashing the great man or prolonging the retirement circus going on in the media. This article may not ooze with love and support for the champion batsman but i just want to state some facts..I love him. For me he has been the greatest cricketer I have seen all my life.. But there have been few things that have been pricking me off late.

---> I dont think its fair on the team that the master picks and chooses which tournament to play.. Dada in his recent interview clearly hit the nail on the head when he stated that its unfair on the team that Sachin picks and chooses the odi's. I think we have reached a time where he has to decide if he strongly believes that he could contribute to the team.It unsettles the team. If you see the statistics in the last 2 years Sachin has played only 18 odis of which 9 games were world cup games. I frankly believe he does not have anything to offer to the NOTE 'the odi team'. Rahane, who had a decent home series against england is now nowhere to be seen as sehwag,gambhir and Sachin are back in the team.I think it was unfair on Rahane that he was a tourist in australia and now has not found a place in the odi team even for the asia cup.The master has nothing left to prove in the odi arena and there should not be a stage where everyone starts considering him to be a liability. Sure he might make his hundredth 100 and india might win the asia cup and many of us might bang our chest and then say ‘The champ is back’..but thats not the point here.

----> If u have been following the CB series there was a particular incident that caught my eye.. The match against oz at Gabba where he was hit on the helmet by a bouncer from lee. The last time i remember Sachin being hit on the helmet in an odi was way back in mid 90's in a game at sharjah when he was hit on the helmet by a vicious bouncer by the great Wasim Akram. Not to mention two balls later he off drove the same bowler to the boundary is a worthy mention.But what happened in this series has been painful to watch .I don’t agree with this theory of Sachin not being a great fielder.Since he has failed with the bat loose talks have now emerged that he is a liability on the field. Sachin himself has stated that he does not see himself playing the next worldcup. So i guess there has to be some plan to the whole soap opera thats been dragging on.

There has also been a section of the media that Sachin has been made the scapegoat here. There were shouts on the topic that Jadeja,Rohit and Raina need to be ousted as well. Well I still believe that these youngsters deserve a chance . we know that they are talented and they will come good. When stalwarts like Sachin,Dravid,Sehwag and Laxman who are in their 3rd or 4th tour down under have failed miserably dont you all think these first timers deserve another chance. Throwing them out of the team will be a knee jerk reaction.

My opinion is Sachin should quit the odis as he has nothing more left to prove in the odis. I want him to play the tests atleast for next 2 yrs and prolong his career as thats where I believe India is going to struggle with the transition thats going to take place in the team. So his presence is mandatory in the tests. I dont justify the retirement circus in the media. They are chameleons who wil do a u-turn when the master completes his 100 100's which i believe will come as he has proved me wrong time and again.

We want his career to be remembered as a whirlwind love story that almost everyone of us must have experienced in our teens which we still rejoice it through some lovely memories and we dont want his career to end like a stale marriage which we regret of going through with it.

P.S. The above piece is written by an ardent Sachin fan who still dreams that one day when he has a baby boy will name his kid Sachin.

Oh No...Not again..

Once again we falter.. Its not the defeat that hurts.Its because we have caved down once again without a semblance of fight..again it reiterates the old sayin that we are tigers at home and paper tigers abroad..After almost 26 yrs after kapil's match winning spell at the MCG we had a realistic chance of winning the test match.Things were lookin so good at the end of day 2 but again the indian fans seemed to have been sold a dummy. We were in a way lucky that we dint have to bat under the overcast conditions on the first day against a wel-oiled aussie bowling attack.Frankly, we had the best conditions to bat on day2 and day 3. Another worrying aspect was though 3 of our top4 managed to score fifties in the first innings none of them kicked on to score that big hundred. Though half our team managed to reach 2 weeks before the first test to get acclimatised to the conditions it does not seem to have helped much. But the famed indian batting line up failing cant really be blamed on the alien conditions or the seaming wickets as in england. It was a fantastic cricket wicket at the MCG suiting batsmen who were ready to battle it out and fast bowlers aiming to hit the right areas.Gambhir's form in the last few months has been a big worrying factor.From the injury hit england tour he has never been able to translate his hunger in to runs.The indian team would be really hoping for the delhi opener toreturn to some good form at the earliest. A perennial problem that has been causing the indian team a lot of issues is closing out an innings when we have been in winning positions. The same happened in capetown at the beginning of this year when our bowlers were not able to close out the last recognised batting pair which would have enabled us to win a test series for the first time in the rainbow nation.The same happened here in this test when we had the aussies reeling at 27-4 and 177-8 and still the aussies managed to set a target close to 300 which seized the initiative in their favour.I never seem to understand MSD's tactics of spreadin the field when a batsmen plays with a tail ender.Also the field given to Ashwin was always on the defensive with a fielder stationed at long on even when a batsman is new to the crease. Though all is not lost for the indian team. The indian fast bowlers showed great character and skill to keep the aussie batsmen at bay.Young yadav displayed great courage on his first tour down under in bowling at the right areas and not getting carriedaway by the pace and bounce of the wicket.The remainder of the series requires fit indian fast bowlers hitting the right areas and more importantly the famed batting lineup applyin themselves and the runs would come in time.