The 2 Idiots

If I look back at world cricket and think about some of its major blunders I would certainly list the entry of Chappell brothers in the game and their contribution thereafter as the stupidest thing to happen to world cricket.

After India’s exit from world cup in 2007 Ian Chappell wrote about Tendulkar "Before anybody else makes a decision on what will happen to Tendulkar the player himself has to have a good long look in the mirror and decide what he's trying to achieve in the game". I wonder how he will explain this point now.

His brother Greg, well I don’t have enough words to describe how much he has harmed world cricket/Indian cricket in the recent past. His mindless theories have not only damaged the game but also depleted a strong team. We too much have already been written about him and I don’t need to vindicate my point. But i am sure Irfan Pathan who is now out of the Indian world T20 team would appear to testify this.

In June 2009, in a published article Chappell alleged that Tendulkar plays only for records and he had become burden for the Team India and that Tendulkar should quit.Tendulkar, a non-controversial personality in cricket world has finally reacted sharply to Chappel.Tendulkar said " Some people make allegations just to gain popularity. Ian Chappel has no knowledge of cricket".

Before the Australian tour last year Ian Chappell wrote "Sachin has been an outstanding player. And to be an outstanding player for such a long time takes a lot of things. But for a long part of his career he was the best batsman in the world. I don't think he is that anymore. I think Ricky Ponting has taken that role over now." Well now history has proved the truth.

Greg Chappell on the other hand after doing what he did to Indian cricket and earning his retirement fund from BCCI told "I am not interested in India. Not interested in Indian cricket".

When player become old and retire they bask in the glory of their past. These two brothers have really a glorious past. They will always be remembered as the people to mock the game by bowling underarm. So when they insult the greats like Sachin or Sourav they should remember their past.

I understand they are old and they need to earn their lively hood by writing columns or providing coaching to national/club teams. Greg and Ian are doing the same. But the problem lies in their capability to understand the game. With all due respect they are the 2 idiots of world cricket and no matter what they write or try to coach they will never be able to hide their incompetency.

They will never gain the respect or awe from the game and its lovers because of their inability to respect the game itself.

As it is the foreign relation between Australia and India is at its lowest in the recent past so it would be good is the media from both the countries puts a tab on the big mouth of the 2 idiots so at least no further damage is done to the game.If we can do this then "All IZZ Well" for World Cricket

Up in the Air-Review

My momma always said, "Life was like a box of chocolates”-Forest Gump

Probably this one sentence summed up the entire theme of the movie “Forest Gump” . It was a classic movie of all times. Similiarly “Up in the Air” is a brilliant adaptation of contemporary world which can be summed up in this quote :

“How much does your life weigh? Imagine for a second that you're carrying a backpack. I want you to pack it with all the stuff that you have in your life... you start with the little things. The shelves, the drawers, the knickknacks, then you start adding larger stuff. Clothes, tabletop appliances, lamps, your TV... the backpack should be getting pretty heavy now. You go bigger. Your couch, your car, your home... I want you to stuff it all into that backpack. Now I want you to fill it with people. Start with casual acquaintances, friends of friends, folks around the office... and then you move into the people you trust with your most intimate secrets. Your brothers, your sisters, your children, your parents and finally your husband, your wife, your boyfriend, your girlfriend. You get them into that backpack, feel the weight of that bag. Make no mistake your relationships are the heaviest components in your life. All those negotiations and arguments and secrets, the compromises. The slower we move the faster we die. Make no mistake, moving is living. Some animals were meant to carry each other to live symbiotically over a lifetime. Star crossed lovers, monogamous swans. We are not swans. We are sharks.”

It’s a simple story of Ryan Bingham who flies around the world firing people. He is hired to fire people as the higher management in companies are scared to do the downsizing in the current scenario. His life in these trying times and his relationship becomes the driving force of the movie. Just so you understand the man we're dealing with, Bingham is lonely,emotionally detached from the real world, happy to be notching up air miles, and miserable about having to return home. The story then veers through a roller coaster ride of relationships and how Ryan handles the emotions of firing people. The story ends from where it started but with a strong message of hope.The movie is smart,witty and the dialogues are hilarious and devoid of any slapstick comedy.

The director Jason Reitman(who directed “Juno”)casually blends humor with sorrow a presents a wonderful tale of loneliness. George Clooney was a perfect choice for playing Ryan Bingham with the support cast doing an excellent job

Instead of analyzing the movie it would be better(and easier) to pen down few quotes which I am sure would be remembered for long time

Ryan Bingham: All the things you probably hate about travelling -the recycled air, the artificial lighting, the digital juice dispensers, the cheap sushi- are warm reminders that I'm home.

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Ryan Bingham: [on getting through airport security]: Never get behind old people. Their bodies are littered with hidden metal and they never seem to appreciate how little time they have left. Bingo, Asians. They pack light, travel efficiently, and they have a thing for slip on shoes. Gotta love 'em.

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Ryan Bingham: I thought I was a part of your life.

Alex Goran: I thought we signed up for the same thing... I thought our relationship was perfectly clear. You are an escape. You're a break from our normal lives. You're a parenthesis.

Ryan Bingham: I'm a parenthesis?

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Ryan Bingham: [a letter to Natalie’s new job]: To whom it may concern: I can't begin to count the number of people I've fired. So many that I've forgotten what it's like to actually hire someone. We've never met, but you'd be lucky to have Natalie Keener. My advice? Take her and don't look back. She'll be the best decision you've made in a long time.

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Ryan Bingham: If you think about it, your favorite memories, the most important moments in your life... were you alone? Life's better with company.

Memorable dinner drive

Yesterday we decided to dine on the Khandala Valley. Accordingly we traveled to ‘Dukes Retreat’ at night. The drive along the Western Ghat was awesome and with the Radio Jokey playing the remixed tracks the journey seems to be very enjoying. The description of the night is not what is the main purpose of the blog. The spectacular experience of the return journey makes this blog worth writing.

We were cruising along the Mumbai-Pune expressway on our return journey when suddenly an unknown car whizzed passed us. The make of the car was somewhat different.On a closer we realized it was Roles Royce Phantom. The car had a majestic arrogance and it pierced through the darkness like a Phantom. Just when we were admiring its beauty a Lamborghini whizzed passed us. The yellow racer with turbo engine was following the Phantom. If you have watched the movie Ghost and Darkness then you would realize how deadly they were looking riding side by side. Our own Rony(My friend and the driver) tried to match their speed and give us a glimpse of the cars. It was not long when we heard a loud honking behind us. We gave way to another awesome car Bentlay Mulsanne . The three cars occupied the empty lanes and drove parallel to each other. All I can say is the whole scenario was worth watching, Pune –Mumbai express way, middle of the night and the three most desirable cars cruising ahead of you.
They were driving at their medium speed and we had to huff and puff our way to match them. Rony did a good job to drive behind them most of the way and we reached Pune in about 50 minutes flat. It was a memorable experience for all of us to see a rally of the best cars in front of us.

As i drove past German Bakery...

As I drove past the German Bakery a strange feeling went through me. It was sadness and possibly anger with slight hopelessness in it. The sight was a testimony of destruction. Although police had cordoned off the area surrounding it but I guess they have done it too late. Lots of young innocent lives have been lost in the mindless streak of violence.

If the target of terrorist is to invoke fear in common people then I must say they have succeeded. The lively city went under a blanket of fear for the valentine’s weekend. People tried hard to be resolute but the fear showed in their action. But then again life has gone back to normalcy now. People have gone back to their life. People who have been affected by the blast is having a hard time coping with their loss.

But somewhere I sense that we have accepted these incidents. I blame the administration for it. One strong step or a strong message would have acted as a warning for such elements. But as a proud peace loving nation our administration have done nothing. I think we should learn from America. There was one 9/11 and they annihilated an entire nation, made security measures to such a frenzy level that it inspired many bollywood movies. What did we do? The answer actually is ‘Nothing’.

We are more interested in ‘Aman Ki Asha’ when our own people are dying every day. We are more interested in regional politics that building a strong nation. We are more interested in dividing our states than providing security to our stalemates. We are more interested in preventing other people from entering our states that preventing such rogue elements from entering our country. And thus we have accepted that few of our innocent friends will die every day and in such a gruesome manner. And thus even after 26/11 or 13/2 we get back to our normal life quickly. Media calls this resoluteness I prefer to call it hopelessness.

We have to understand democracy in a better way than we did in the past 60 years of Independence. We need to understand the power of democracy and how it can be used to build a nation. The day we realize the power of people and have value for human life we can defend ourselves against terrorists.

A.R- The maestro of contemporary music

2 Oscars and 2 Grammys will certainly ensure that the music maestro A.R. Rahman is recognized by the world for his exemplary contribution to modern music. He deserved every bit of the recognition but what bothers me is that the western world recognized his skills for a movie like ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ which is certainly not one of his best. I still believe that 'Roja' & 'Bomabay' are two of his masterpiece. He should have been recognized for such compositions and not for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ .
The spotlight received by ever humble A.R.Rahman may be a boon for India music industry which is culturally the richest treasure house of lyrics and music but is lost in the labyrinth of commercial and classical feud. I am sure in the coming years our Indian music will get an international platform and A.R.Rahman would always be remembered as the brilliant maestro who took our music to the international stage.

WE ARE ALL RACIST

Most of us are born racist then why blame Australia!! The difference probably lies that they express their feelings through actions and we do so verbally because we are a bunch of cowards. Otherwise what’s the difference? Some people claim Mumbai belong to a certain group of people or that Telangana must be a separate state. We have more state than most countries and even if that’s not worse we have a difference of culture, language and to add to that people have become intolerant towards anyone who is not a son of soil.
If India had been a successful kingdom as history suggests, the reason was tolerance towards other people having different culture, language and way of living. After independence we were too busy trying to be a ‘developed nation’ from a ‘developing nation’ and now that we are developing so we have leisure to indulge in activities which leads to a divided nation. I guess the motto of a certain class of people is to make ‘India’ into ‘United States of India’ where in we will need visa to travel to one state to another. Probably Mumbai would also have a visa cap every year for migrants.
We still refer to people based on their region or religion or class or creed …this list will go on..So aren’t we racist?? Introspection will reveal the answer which we can’t deny. Unless we value and respect human life we can never call ourselves developed species, be it Australian’s or Indian’s. Hatred is a strong feeling which can destroy humanity are we are not too far from that…!