Australia : Down Down

Australians are the champions, in one day cricket, test cricket and non-cricket. Yes, what happened in the one of the first test matches of the new year was NOT cricket. Right from the horrendous umpiring decisions ( a whooping 11 in number) to the 'sportsman spirit' shown by the Aussies have been unprecedented. And I sincerely hope no one repeats also. This Australian team has earned the dubious distinction of being the most 'aggressive' and unfair team I have ever seen play cricket.
When you have players who nick the ball with a loud noise and still stand their ground hoping umpires would rule them not out and the same player who has clearly grounded the ball while taking a catch off the pad appeals his heart out , you know something is not right and this is not a fair game. I had high degree of respect for Adam Gilchrist as he was one of the most honest and fair player in the Aussie team but when he appealed for Dravid's pad nick which would surely be visible to the keeper, it was clear to me, this team is all out in full strength in full cooperation to win the record 16th test by ANY means. Sincere appreciations to Anil Kumble and the Indian camp who have tacked the whole issue very nicely putting across their views in a very tactical way. Till last night I thought it was 14 men against the Indian team including the 2 ground and 1 third umpire, now it is clear it is a 15 member team, including the match referee. I mean how can you give a decision without conclusive evidence. And that too on Australian charges, who have been synonymous to sledging in the past,present and the future. This is not cricket and this series doesn't deserve to be finished. Indian team should call off this series and come back home and teach Australian board a lesson. Teams like Sri Lanka, Pakistan will endorse this move of Indian team if it happens as they have also been subject to hostile reactions.

In a nut shell, the cricket has lost in this game and an over aggressive and unruly 'mob' of men has won. Winning a match is not everything. Winning hearts is more important and Kumble's men have won that.

World of ads

Some days back had a very good experience. Through one of my friend from the ad world I got to see some of the best ads which have been featured on television ever. It had memorable ads like mile sur mera tumhara,hamara bajaj, nirma, titan watches,surf excel, le sancy soap, and many many more. It was truly a nostalgic and wonderful feeling , reminding one self of the childhood days when we used to see 20 minutes non stop ad before mahabharat serial used to begin and then non stop serial. If we compare these ads, my personal favorites were the one of cadbury's dairy milk. The music, the theme, the catch line of " kuch khaas hai zindagi main" all are stupendous.

Click here to view my favourite one.

end of chapter in life : Part 1

Disclaimer: Pls don't get hurt with any of these comments. All in fun.

Life is lived in chapters. This I had believed right from childhood and it stands very true for my life. I say so because each part of my life is completely disjointed from the other part ,if not mentally at least physically. And as the wheels of life have turned again , I am at the juncture of end of another chapter in my life. Undoubtedly one of the happiest chapters in my life, the chapter when me and my roomies stayed in Bangalore. Now when it is time when all of us are moving ahead /have already moved with their lives , with a heavy heart I am penning down whatever I can remember of the days we spent together. This could turn out to be the most sentimental blog I have ever written .
Our association started off in Oct 2004 when me,Vinu and Partha decided to take a house. I can't forget the day when me and Vinu gradually drifted without realising into egipura while searching for house. Fate intervened and we were joined by 2 more people Jo and Mama and later by my old pal from college Sajith(Bhaiya). How we missed the first house we saw and then entered into 8/1, Aswini Layout is a funny tale. There began our first association. Breakfast skipping on sundays to walking all the way to godavari for a decent meal and the stare waiter used to give when we told no for all the side dishes except for meals, Vinu's constant quetchings about the house and partha and murugan's unnecessary duel are some of the memories which will never be erased. Not that I was the perfect one in the house, I too had lot of shortcomings , lots of angry outbursts for petty things were some of my 'achievements' at the house. By the time we planned to leave the house Murugan had become an inevitable part of our gang. Nov 2005 was when we vacated the house but not so smoothly.

Some unforgettable things/events at this house in no specific order:

• Vinu's histrionics :The way Vinu as soon as he entered the house and put his bed in the first room saying" Naan inga thaan , yaaru venum nallum enga vennalum ponga" and within days he came with his bed to the other room. Vinu packing his luggage to leave the house and inspite of all our efforts he didn't change his decision and one fateful sunday when he asked" kandippa poi thaan aaganum a?"
• Kovai International: The long queue at this place for eating, how the chutney was full watery and the kanjathanam he used to do for putting chutney, the paper thin dosa for 4 rs and the unhygenic serving of the food.
• Sunday morning breakfast: Which we never had. Whoever ventured out first to have T or puffs was made the scapegoat and people used to call him to get something for them.
• Partha vs Murugan vs Natraj: This will undoubtedly be the funniest incident when we recall it say 10 years later. No one knows the exact cause of the dual between Partha and Murugan and how I jumped up in support of Murugan. Silly ! All very Silly!
• Safal , rival for Kovai: For a long time Kovai was the undisputed destination for food for all of us until Safal came up. The red color chutney, the watery dal, aaloo paratha and the endless wait for all of this .
• Entry of the neatness freak Bhaiya:How bhaiya's dad commented on the house being very dirty and dusty and how we had very high hopes on bhaiya being a netaness freak and how he turned our house into a dustbin. Remember the bad smell one day everyone was chasing to find where it is coming from to finally find it is from bhaiya's sweater
  
• Exit from the house: The exit from the house , the owner's behavior and the way he tore away the agreement upon petering him for the balance advance amount.

Hope these memories are everlasting not only in the google server but also in our heart.

Evano Oruvan: Straight from heart!

Truth is always bitter. And that's exactly what I felt when I came out of Chandran theater in udhayam complex in Chennai after watching "Evano Oruvan". The movie comes as a hard punch on all so called happy go lucky youth of India. How we manage to laugh at our problems. How we manage to escape from the basic problems without even thinking about whether what we are doing is just or not. Movie stars Madhavan in an excellent role ( one of his best according to me) as a typical middle class man. The magic of the movie is that his simplicity is maintained throughout the character. Not unlike other such social upheaval movies wherein the protagonist undergoes tremendous change in character and that's what makes these movies unrealistic. This is by far one of the most realistic movies on the social issues till now and the director has managed to maintain the same till the end. The situations where the hero reacts are all very subtle and very common situations and what pinches us hard is how did we manage to neglect all those till now. The climax and the scenes which lead to that are the best in the movie according to me . The movie works only and only because of its simplicity and straight from heart approach. As for the cons , I would say, it is a very slow movie , there is hardly any pace and no "masala" items. A pure classic cinema at its best! But all of us know it's fate. :)

ICL Matches: Fun to watch

ICL matches have begun and have begun with a bang. Packed houses in stadiums and full toosh entertainment. Watch them in all Zee channels . For now I can show you one of the advertisements for my favourite team. Watch it for yourself and have fun.

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