From UPA to NDA and back in 18 hrs

Well I have always been a staunch supporter of one powerful political party ruling at the centre and against NDA because I am never comfortable picturing the state of the country and the "minorities",a term which I always use with reservations,with them at the helm .(not in the context of the Political offering which people of this section are offered)

Hmmm .. That leaves me favouring the Congress and the UPA .I have always fought with myself trying to convince why I shouldn't be so tough on the BJP given that they have a selfless leader in A.B.Vajpayee ,but I couldn't stop thinking "What after him or without him ?"
And the aftermath of the Godhra riots, I was convinced I can never be able to bring myself to perform an action which would contribute towards establishing a Government which features some of the BJP leaders .
BUt then there was a sudden tilt and all it required was a 30 min talk by a very knowledgeable and learned man and he gave me 3 reasons why I shouldn't be voting for the UPA .
1) Their role and acceptance in experimenting with Genetically modified food in India .He pictured it as Indians being used as Guinea pigs and at that juncture it struck my stupid brain very hard.
2)The second reason was one of the most absurd ones and I find it unfit for mentioning it here even though I would laugh at myself for taking it seriously without even verifying untill Ricky kicked me back to senses .
3) THe third was one when Sonia declared her net worth to be 1.38 Crore Rs.
By all means , Sonia can think herself to be the smartest woman in the world , but the amount of insult that statement would have caused to all the sane humane beings in this wide country .
I mean , how can she expect us to buy it.
Any way then ensued a short conversation with Ricky on why NDA would be a better option and he just took 10 mins to smash my new found wisdom .
He explained how genetically modified food experimentation is a sort of back office deal in return for the Nuclear deal that NDA too would have no choice but to go ahead with it . And he blasted me to even have given thought to the second ridiculous reason while the third , nothing much can be done about it . Pretty soon Lalu announced his net worth around 3-4 crores .

So am back to sticking with the UPA alliance for the primary reason that Dr.Manmohan Singh is their Prime Ministerial candidate and I strongly believe that given the uncertain economy and recession period looming large only he and his team are well equipped to steer India through these troubled times .

Slice of Life @ Madurai

The road was less frequented at that early hour but the activity was picking up by the minute.I would have on a normal visit would have taken a city bus, which are a way of life over here .
Or I could hire an auto , slugg it out with them ,bargain for 10 or 5 Rs ,not that it wasn't affordable but for the sheer fun of bargaining,considering I had only 20 bucks left.
As i was working the cost out in the head , a young kid walked up to me with a few books in hand.
It was 7 in the morning and she was already at work , persuading people to buy some books from her. I was skeptical at first , for the books were all for kids , short stories on Thenali Raman and poems by Subramania Bharthi , a renowned poet and considering the fact that my sis wasn't home, I at 24 would be the youngest at home at present.
On noticing my indecisiveness , the little one said that I might be a bit old for those books but it would help her to have a decent break fast . And as I skimmed through the books ,she even helped me out by suggesting a better one when I made a ridiculous choice. I happily boought it.

As I waited there , watching her sell books to other people ,I couldn't stop thinking about her gesture of offering me which she thought was a better book for me than just let me choose a random one .
Well that's Madurai for me , the city which finds its own new way to leave me amazed each time.

Picks ,Myths and Hopes - The Australian Open 2009

Phew ... Finally its on again . . . The First Grand Slam of the Year is on , and even though we are through the first round in both the Men's and Ladies section , its time to call for the favourites.

On the Men's side its got to be ,the Emperor himself "Roger Federer".
He seems to have been fallen on bad days .
But it will take much more than that reason to erode your confidence on one of your idols.


Seriously , this man is an awesome athlete and he is helpful in more than one way apart from cheering you up and leaving you bedazzled with his game.
For instance , if you find yourself in a dicey situation on having to flatter someone to the core or heap praises on any earthling (if they deserve it or not is another matter), all you have to do is to find an article on this man written by any damn journalist and use the adjectives and phrases appropriately to suit your situation.

Call it stupidity or stupidity, but i can pretty much identify the crest and troughs he rides through during an year.
And after a rough few months and a pretty sleepy New Year so far , I'm looking up to him to provide me the spark to get going for this year.

I know its pretty dumb on my part to be 24 and looking beyond one's own effort to lift oneself up and instead hoping on some thing like this . It might not make much sense , and there might be little logic in it .But we all need to cling on to something , in what ever form it may be , to lift up our spirits in sleepy times.

And what better scene could it be to see FedEx come up triumphant claiming his 5 Th Australian open , creating history by tieing Pistol Pete, another revered player and claiming a world record equalling 14 th Grand Slam.

But there is the perennial thorn Nadal, and Djoker whom, i now love to hate for... oh No , no folks , not because he mocked Sharapova :) but for his pure arrogance on and off the court, and the new and improved Brit hope Andy Murray.

The Ladies section seems a much more open field with the ever unpredictable William Sisters , and a few more tough players like Jankovic and Mauresmo , and not mention Kuznetsova , a constant semi finalist at most of the majors.


But my pick this year would be the hot Serb "Anna Ivanovic", though she is not in the form of her life .
Anna Ivanoic's good looks is as much a contribution as her strong ground strokes for being my pick at Australian open 2009 . After all who wouldn't want a pretty young face smiling face on the news papers , kissing the trophy in the hand :) .
That would certainly brighten up that day ..

As for the Indian challenge Down under , i hope either Hesh or Paes take the crown in doubles, and even tough Sania sailed thru to the next round i hope she gets beaten pretty sure. I dont know why she gives me the impression of a model/movie star than a sports star .Probably she thiinks herself to be the same way too .

I sincerely hope she gets offered a huge sum to do a movie and it turns out to be a great hit and she takes up a career in the movies . That way atleast Indian Tennis , particularly Women's tennis will be saved of the mockery , which she is subjecting it to .

Honestly, the people and Women of India deserve a better Sporting Role Model .

So there it is , its Fedex and Anna for this years Australian open . Let's see how far they go .

Brutus & Longbottom Vs Ceasar & Harry Potter

Scene 1 :
Some time in BC .
A few senators plotting to kill Julius Ceasar ,prominent among them are Brutus ,Cassius and Quintus.

Caussius suggests, "we can kill Julius in bed when he's asleep,he sure doesn't sleep with another man ."

Others chip in,"yes, we could bribe some of his guards , even his cook, his taster and poison him "

Brutus shrieks out in anger "Gentleman ,this is not some cheap murder,It is an honorable thing that we do and it must be done honourably, in day light on the senate floor,with our own hand . . . with my hand . "

The intentions of others may be questionable but not of Brutus.
Brutus was neither a traitor nor a plotter, but did he indeed lack courage to confront Gaius Julius Ceasar ?

Scene 2:
Sometime in the early 2000's - Harry Potter & The Socerer's Stone.

Harry,Germoine and Ron sneak out during the nights to solve some mystery surrounding Harry and Hogwarts. They often get into trouble for breaking the rules and end up getting rebuked by the Professors.

As the climax nears in , they sneak out in the middle of the night again but are confronted by one Neville Longbottom holding a wand pointed at them warning them not to go and cause any more damage to the chances and reputation of Griffindor.

But as desperate as the audience are to get to the bottom of the mystery , they just hope Longbottom listens to Harry and backs off.
But Neville doesn't relent and holds up his wand at them and it takes a spell from the pretty lass to get him off their way.

And finally when Dumbledore announces the results giving extra points for Harry and Co for their bravery , they end up tied with Slytherin and then its the 10 points that is awarded to Longbottom which helps them win the year end cup.

And Dumbledore's explanation may well tie any literary work which will justify Brutus ' action.

"It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to your enemies,but even more to stand up to your friends"

Brutus judgement may be questioned but not his intentions and love for the republic and the people,including Ceasar.

Indeed Brutus was a courageous man . . . But for him Julius Ceasar wouldn't have been known the way he is now .who knows the world might have known him as the First Dictator ever known . .

But the most pertinent question is ,If you and I play Harry and Neville , who ll play the wise Dumbledore ?
Without that wisdom and judgement we could as well end up being Harry and Malfoy . .

THAMARAI - The Poetess crowns herself ...

Another set of haunting lyrics , aand guess who , yes its Thamarai .
she's back . . and back with a bang .. .

The first 4 lines of "Nenjukkul Peidhidhum . ." of the new Surya starrer "Vaaranam Aayiram" never parts you .. was waiting for those lines to repeat themselves thru the song only to find even better lyrics on the way .. .

some of the lines which many ,if not all , are going to get hooked on to are ..

"Nenjukkul peidhidhum maamazhai...
Neerukkul muzhidum thamarai ...
Sattendru maarudhu vaanilai ....
Penne un mel Pizhai . . . . . "

For non Tamilians .. the lyrics means some thing like this

"The downpour in the heart . .
The sinking lotus ...
And the Sudden change in weather ..
O Lady, thou are to blame ..."

And it gets better as the song goes on ..

"Nee nindhra yedam endral .. vilai yeri pogatho . ."

"Yenodu vaa vidu varaikkum , yen vitai par yennai piddikum "

The other "Gaana" song as Tamilians would classify " Ava Enna Enna . . " into , is another one with simple ,catchy , enjoyable lyrics inspite of the sober mood it depicts .. kudos to Karthik for trying out a different type of song ..
Once again Thamarai shines thru . . .

The other 3 songs of VM are also noteworthy.

Incidently the last song i enjoyed a lot was also penned by Thamarai .. another mystic number from "PathchaiKili Muthucharam" .. "Un Siripinil ..."

Thamarai, has an uncanny and inimitable style of her own . . and her choice of words for conveying subtle feelings makes her stand aloof.

Many may still vote "Ondra , Eranda Aasaigal.." from "Kakka Kakka" as her best work , but that was one of her songs i hated for its sheer casting and choreography .
Many may flay me for saying that ...
but Thmarai is surely taking gaint steps towards blending pure, unadultered tamil language in her songs and at the same time making them appealing and likeable .

It stikes a chord almost immediately .. i just heard 4 lines before i rewound to hear it again ffrom the beginning .

Final word - VM is an album to cherish and will linger on for long ,even if you have heard it just once , which i bet you be woulldn't be doing. You would want to hear it again , just for Thamarai's sake.

Lesson on Littering

I have always been conscious of not littering around , or have I ? hmmm
The answer is partly yes and partly no .
No is when i unconsciously decide to hone my foot balling skills just because a piece of paper is available in my hand and i don't find a garbage dump on the road ..
but that wouldn't quite justify littering ..will it? No, it wouldn't especially in the kind of Binary World we live in where are only 10 types of People .The ones who do and then the rest who don't.
So ,yes I confess, i do litter around.

Until I was put in place by a gentle pointing out that what i was doing was actually littering around.
It struck me.Sure, I'm educated enough to distinguish foot balling and littering, yet i never reasoned .
Some times you need people around you to knock some sense into it.I'm glad there was a good one around, else i would have continued with this practice for God knows till when.

The best part was that she practices it religiously.She carries the wrapper around until she hunts down a dust bin.

Thanks to her, my packets are always full of wrappers and papers when ever i have some thing on the move .And for once i felt good stuffing my packets with garbage.

Neutrality . . . Is it what it is ?

Impartiality, A neutral Stance, Detachment, refusal to take sides .
Type in "neutrality" in your new Vista powered 07 Excel, and these are the synonyms you get.
Well, did firmly believe in those words till i came across this dialogue in a movie called 'No Man's Land" (yes , your right -the very movie to which Lagaan lost out to in the Oscars in the early 2000's)
and it went some thing like this - mouthed by an UN Peace Keeper in the movie -
" There is nothing called Neutrality in the face of murder(war), in fact choosing not to do anything is indeed taking sides"
Its been a day still couldn't stop pondering about the line ever since i heard it.
Very true, not doing any thing and let the weaker,oppressed party be exploited is indeed taking sides with the Oppressor . And this argument can be scaled up and down to fit into a dispute of any possible magnitude. . . .