One of the best playwrites once remarked thus about a descripit Iyer form the villages of South India who had even a more descripit village to his credit, Malgudi!!

“There are writers– Leo Tolstoy and Henry James to name two–whom we hold in awe, writers–Ivan Turgenev and Anton Chekhov–for whom we feel a personal affection, other writers whom we respect–Joseph Conrad for example–but who hold us at a long arm’s length with their ‘courtly foreign grace.’ Narayan (whom I don’t hesitate to name in such a context) more than any of them wakes in me a spring of gratitude, for he has offered me a second home. Without him I could never have known what it is like to be Indian.”–Graham Greene

One may not even be awre of the other authors, at least I dont know them, but RK N is etched in my memory purely for his lucid fervent stoy telling and even a tinge of the satire his brother was so famous for!! Quite a revelation nevertheless in a world of the imaginary, with the subtle satire he quite a bit enthralls the reader.

The tiger of Malgudi is one of the many novels, rather short stories that comes as part of the memories of Malgudi package of RK. Its the world through the eyes of a tiger and his attempts to understand the huamn race and we finally end up concluding that this tiger unlike the others of its species is blessed with an innate wisdom. Again RK displays his amazing penchant for genius purely by quoting instances, what we take as normal human life, as evidence of folly of the humans.

Excellent book taken through only to make the reader aware of the more elaborate world of animals and of course an excellent foray of RK’s into the world of satirical humor

Infosys for most people signifies what they would want Indian industry to be and NRN possibly is the epitome of the honest IT czar. Quite true that the company itslef is powered by the inteeligentia and driven by the values that its mentor so passionately believes in. It is by far one of the most value driven companies in the IT field today. However to a person on the shores of Tamil Nadu, recovering from the wrath of the Tsunami, the name of Infosys possibly brings to mind the genial lady in cotton sari who doled out help in large dollops with a smile to match!! He possibly recognises Sudha Murthy wife of NRN and one of the most underrated celebrities in India!

Enchantingly this lady has been the perfect wife for NRN, complementing his superstar status with her sublime simplicity(not to say that NRN is not, still her simplicity is anything but corporate) and exuberant work! Her book wise and otherwise is par excelllence and worth more than a read, not more than 200 pages its a few hours work for the bibliophile, this is where the experienced one needs to read between the lines, wise and otherwise, is a roller coaster ride through emotions and truth. It is a collection of short stories depecting India and her lesser children, whom sudha strove to revive. Scarcely a more redention have I read, even JRR the master story teller would be proud of the way the stories have been handled and the human element is more than just eveident. To read these books is to be able to see through the eyes of an immensly senstive person and to be touched by the growing apathy around us.
Why then is it that we are yet to discover the celebrity who does the best work, who changes the world for those whom change means death or even worse infamy? Why do we worship a Teen-Icon, but forget the teenager in the brothels for whom this champion fights? Is it time for India to do a little introspection, learn from its most underrated celebrity, the ever effacing Sudha Murthy

The journey for Munnabhai has been one full of triumphs and tribulations and has its share of both public bashing and adoration, nothing though to beat the current hoopla raised over his inevitable jailing. There has been a lot of water that has flown under the bridge even as Dutt was tossed around between judicial hearings for the last 14 years for a case that should have been closed aeons ag, yet the call of justice can scarcely be denied and Dutt more than anyone will agree that it is one that he would not ever ignore.

For his part it is possibly fair to say that there is more of a responsible citizen in the gun toting Dutt than there is in the tumult of MP’s in the Lok Sabha or even in the cabinet perhaps.He hasnt,like the other bollywood personalities thwarted the process of law or turned hostile in court, he has for his part been exceptionally condescending and humble at his error. He has not used his fan following to raise some sympathy for himself, so easily done these days!! He has been perfectly law abiding, for that reason alone I bow to Dutt because herein we see the true citizen, not ashamed to admit he was wrong and actually goes down meekly. Fine show Sanju, really speaking I am impressed at his show of guts and mettle. Its all ok to talk in movies of how delightful it is to go to jail, scarcely so in real life where the stark reality of the damned jails strikes you like bile in the pit of the stomach.

It is always ok to commit mistakes, Dutt of course will know that the mistake he committed is by no means either small or insignificant, he has fueled the riots which have possibly torn apart more families than any instance of human violence. The spirit of a City loved by all its Citizens was broken and none but Dutt would be more aware of this.He therefore has been meekly right in accepting judgment. Coming to whether it is a little too harsh or not, I feel is too much of a question especially with the Indian brand of delayed justice and better late than never attitude, IMHO it should more than be justified. Dutt has had time to rake in his earnings and also stabilize his personal life. I do not think the sentence is anything to be deliberated on.

All said and done there has been an air of meek acceptance about the verdict, even if it had little preemption. That is quite the way celebrities need to react to justice and not the way SRK and company have been toying with the law(read Bharat shah). Way to go Sanju. Dutt’s definitely the way!!

The most awaited book since possibly the Digital fortress by Dan brown and the most idolized character since sherlock Holmes has finally made his appearance on the bibliophile’s book list. Harry Potter and the deathly Hallows finally has finally released amidst the hoopla with numerous fakes littering the digital world! The final duel had occurred and JK Rowling had a her last laugh to the bank, with the book making more than a million pounds in its first week itself. Speculation was rife that this would be Harry’s end and the Dark Arts would stay till the end. Banishing all doubts the book takes the readers into the Dark Arts deeper than they would have imagined and Voldemort , the quintessential villain, has his moments as he tries to destroy Harry in his quest for a deathless life.

No doubt the book is one of the better written novels that one may come across, neatly sequenced as it follows the highs and lows of the hero’s upheavals and downsides, show casing as it goes on his journey from a 17 year old to a man well beyond his years. The power of Voldemort as he slowly disarms the ministry and sets up his rule of terror, resembles that of Hitler’s dictatorial regime and his hate of muggles(Non magical people) is reminiscent of the Fuuher’s Anti-semitism. Quite mesmerizing as he rises through the levels from an out caste to absolute master, that is until Harry and friends come on the scene. The Grand Finale , figuratively, concluding at Hogwarts is quite well positioned. Action packed and well choreographed as each event leads to the next, the furious pace leaves the reader breathless. Deaths, injuries, curses, killing curses, dot the landscape of the narrative even as Rowling ruthlessly slaughters characters most of the readers had by then begun to come to love. Here in lies the fault, Rowling has pretty obviously forgotten about her faithful following and denied them the true pleasure, a Harry Potter novel.

The book is quite filmy, truthfully speaking, more of a gruesome action thriller, better suited to a Clint Eastwood saga, not to a Harry Potter book. The delicate Rowling touch which makes a HP book quite a joy to read is lost and one feels very lost as Harry slowly changes drastically both in character and value structure.It is quite a hard detail to swallow as there is a link missing with the previous book. Whereas all the previous books had all the characters playing neat and well structured parts, this one lacks that one crucial characteristic. Fred and George, the pranksters;Mr Weasley, the concerned father; Mrs Weasley, the matronly mother; Remus Lupin, the wizard werewolf and of course Ginny, the spunky lover girl of Harry all seemed to be lost in the mist as Harry battles Voldemort and his minions. Disappointing as the previous promised a lot more from all these characters, especially Ginny who seemed to provide Harry with the emotional strength that he lost at the death of his parents.

However the one character who possibly broke all expectations is that of Severus Snape, it is a master stroke of Rowling and here she shows some real talent as she changes the view the readers hold of Snape in a matter of a few pages. Albus Dumbledore the kindly talented headmaster at Hogwarts is also a character who undergoes some drastic changes.

On the whole a superb book, but sadly Harry Potter has died since the 6th book not in person but in spirit as this book leaves the readers a lot for the wanting!!

One of the more inspired albums of A R Rahman has undoubtedly been Rhythm starring Arjun ,Jyothika ,Meena and Ramesh Arvind. The music is the highlight of the movie and ARR has come up with a score that is inspired by the elements. Each of the 5 songs has, as its theme an element. Each song registers its theme well and even as the song is playing the theme activates the listener’s imagination.

                    The albus starts with the melodious nathiye nathiye the song with water as theme. Rahman has a way with melodies as he thrashes them between the tremendous lows of the lower octaves and the scintillating highs. The lyrics by Vairamuthu are nothing short of sheer brilliant coupled with some of the best visuals that any art director can come up this song is a sure hit with the art lovers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfVmqHrH48E

Its this whole quality that makes the song a  thing of beauty besides the innocent visuals the lyrics are truly enlightening and makes the listener want a  relook aon the way eh loks at the things at life. The little joys emphasised by the director do a lot to leave their impact.

            This particular song basically highlights the rocker in ARR. The beats simply take ones breath away. Ever the innovatorRahman is still again gone on to take on teh complicated half beats which are the enigma of modern rhythm. The theme is the earth but more than the theme its the carefree, yet poingnant nnote that strikes a chord with the listener

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uuPilfrpiQ

The places where Shankar actually delves into his sorrow as he sings  non chalantly of his losses and eventual gain make the listner himself revel to the highs of teenage love.

         Easily the best song of the film which would possibly go on to be called the song of the year. This brilliant melody set to the raga of Kapi, with liltations of other ragas coming in, is liberating to say the least.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmNVXziQnBw

        The theme of the song is wind, true to its nature blows you off  your feet. The melodious start motioned by the redoubtable Unni Krishnan in his soothing voice as he caresses the ear drum and just as the listener seems to drift away, Kavitha brings him back with a bang. Energy pumping in with every note, she wisps the listnere away to amazing high notes. Complementingly unni comes low down to the previous octave and the rises to a crescendo with Kavitha, creating the effect of pure genius. If not for any other song, for this song alone, one should buy this album, simplicity combined to pure genius.

                    Truly these 5 songs each a gem by itself, make Rhythm- The five elements; the rhythm of life

Books by and large do much to enrich the reader and in many a way contribute to his development as an individual; The monk who sold his ferrari is a book that takes the reader through a journey with the protagonist Julian Mantle as he changes to the swan of knowledge from the ugly duckling swayed by stress. It all changes the day he gets a heart attack in court and decides that it is time he gives up his blatant life and grasps the mantle of truth and sets off in pursuit of the excellence that is India or the east.                                 

He returns after 3 years a wiser and bolder man with flowing robes and a brilliantly healthy body to match to the narrator John, his long time friend and colleague, then in a window of just 14 hours he reveals the life truths that make up his constitution and pretty obviously that which has changed his life. From here starts the incredible journey to meet the Sages of Sivana and he talks of the sage Krishna who is his Guru and mentor. He describes the world of Sivana as one would describe heaven, subtlety he conveys meanings of life as it sounded form the Sages of Sivana.        

Conceptually, Robin Sharma, has not said anything either new or revolutionary but it is the treatment that he gives that makes the philosophy of the people interesting, the whole philosophy is defined by real life objects such as roses and light houses which exhibit a  quality that the author wishes to convey. Interestingly he does not use even one typecast with possibly the remote exception of the rose and all the objects achieve their goal remarkably. Even as the reader goes through each section, the author is careful not to over tread on the philosophy and at the same time does not miss his point, a very good trait making the work commendable.                                  

The flipside is that their needs to be more story weaving and a little spaced out writing, even as we see John looking brighter with each point mentioned, it makes it increasingly hard for the reader to sustain the energy levels that seems to have possessed John. the author needs to reinvent the fable a little bit to provide time for the reader to digest the details, which are many and well organized. The result being that it becomes hard to actually cognize the whole set up without feeling the drag.                                  

Still quite a readable book, it has a philosophy of the ancients rolled in with the philosophy of the moderns filled with imaginary examples and excellent illustrations. The fact that the author chose the profession of law for his subjects clearly shows the need is the maximum there. What possibly makes the book quite exemplary is the title itself, the ferrari here shows the highest level of desire and the ease with which it has been brushed away proves the effectiveness of the method

One of the finer elements of childhood is possibly the fact that innocence was captured in essence of the questions on the very basic facts of life such as a flower blooming in the day and withering in the night, quite the same case as the child finds his mind unfurling and wrapping onto various avenues of interest. The movie takes us through the journey of young Siddhu(Siddarth) through his family life consisting of the typically over bearing father in Prakash Raj who governs every stage of his life seemingly trying to do his best for him. Sidhu is the typically frustrated lad who vents his anger by abusing his father at every possible instant, of course behind his back!!

All this changes for sidhu when he meets a new lass in his college, Harini(Genelia) ,who is the quintessential girl next door until he gets to know her better only to realize that shes quite tomboy, though fundamentally girlish. She easily befriends people and in her charming childlike spontaneity wins the hearts of and all. Sidhu of course falls head over heels in love with our lass. So far the movie follows cliche as far as the story goes, its the treatment that deserves merit at this point, Harini played by Geneliea with elan is every inch the little girl with pigtails who has grown too fast for her mind to match. She cracks silly pj’s and is even given to having superstitions which make u smile in smug happiness. Siddhu also played elaborately bu Siddarth portrays the insecure young adolescent hopelessly in love and struggling to get into the alpha male role.

Enigmatic Prakash Raj is well suited to playing father and this movie he does justice to the self appraising father who belives that he has more than a measure of his children. The real story begins only when sidhu decide to introduce the imperious Harini to his aristocratic father as his future bride and when the father rejects her outright and makes a suggestion which would shock the regular family crowd but lends the thrill to the whole scene as Harini tried to persuade Sidhu’s parents that shes worth the family. Just as things seem to go just the way it needs to have gone, the plot takes a dramatic twist and the Sidhu needs all his role play assertions and the emotional journey goes on a roller coaster.

Fine performances by the lead cast and even genelia who normally plays the candy floss girl next door has turned in quite a firm performance and is very refreshing . Overall a leave-your-brains-at-home movie with a dash of innocense

By the standards of Rajni the superstar this film would possibly pass off as one of the many feathers in his cap and for the director Shankar as one of his many eccentric creations but for us a s viewers you are left in the lurch as to what he tried to convey and what was in there that was not there in any other Shankar movie. Just to be very brutally honest, he has just repackaged anniyan in a more melodramatic and slick fashion with Shreya providing the oomph that Sada lacked, besides that of course you had the BOSS himself rocking the daylights out of the baddies. The surprise package of the movie was Vivek who had clearly a very cut out role to fill up for Rajni’s younger days with his glib tongue. He almost over shadowed the superstar with his work, his comic timing was more than adequate and his acting seems to be among the best.

Technically I would crave to see a better and more well set movie especially under Indian standards, basically it is a Rajni movie and the people should get more than a good dose of action, that is precisely what is dished out with dollops of punch dialogues and his stylisms will sent the front benchers alight. The problem however creeps at the point where we try to connect the reasoning of Shankar and actual true possibilities, here’s where the movie goes overboard and all the goodness is leaked out like air out of a punctured tyre. Basically its hard to visuallize a 60 year old, though the age does not show crediting the make up artists, battling youngsters half his age and creating stunts mastered only by super man.

The worst role perhaps were those of Manivannan and Vadivukku arasi, who were merely there for want of doing anything better. Shriya is all oomph just standing there in a  ready to bare it all role , not much of a scope to showcase her talent, if any at all, she plays the demur girl who transforms to the ravishing seductress at the drop of a note of music. Strange considering the fact that Sivaji claims he wants a cultured Indian girl for a wife and imagines her  as the seductress a la cleopatra at each song!!! There is alos a song on how Rajni- the fair(!!!!) seduces his girl, bad in taste and pathetically executed. The music sticks out like a sore thumb, Rahaman has apparently done too much of experimentation.

Over all a shoddy show as far as the plot is concerned which goes absolutely nowhere but technically  very sound, camera angles make ur head do a few flips in amazements. But definitely not worth the hype

The night of the 15th of june is one I am not going to forget in a hurry. To start off it was a cloudy night when me and Amar Sharma set off for the trip to halli, the idea of course was comet hunting and Amar was in his elements. Chattering about his impending 12th comet, so we were at Halli by about 930. Just in time to see the clouds obscuring the magnificent skies. We got about a window of an hour to observe the sky and it was an hour I would not forget in a hurry.

Spring is quite the time for the milky way to pick up at  Cygnus and Sagittarius, the Cygnus portion represents the core heart of the milky way and the Saggi represents the tail as it sinks down south. I have scarcely seen a more glorious sight, what with the amazing whiteness of the galaxy contrasting with the scattered stars of the constellation make it a sight so viewable that one is left breathless at its munificences on mankind. I was truly taken in by the band as it faintly spiraled down the southern horizon with the dark patches acting in as a highlight to its lighted portions. The Cygnus portion needs much more clearer less lit up skies to  reveal itself was nonetheless beautiful. Also has some amazing messiers neatly embedded to give the impression of raisins in pudding. Even as andromeda rose to the east the galaxy was begginning to make itself look like the cousin of bigger milky way, the contrast was striking. Really speaking both are spiral galaxies andromeda being the larger one is also one of the sights of the sky. The lyrid meteor shower just happened to light up this wonderful scenario.

Even as the meteors streaked across the back bone of the sky and lit up the starry skies we were left staring open mouthed with only one thought in mind is this God the permanance in the infinite

The statuette of the position of coach is once agin in turmoil with outright rejections the BCCI should am sure need to do a lot of soul searching. The Indian coasching agenda is the highest paying in the world and if coaches have to leave such a  high profile segment it goes a long way to talk about the manner in which sensitve issues are handled.

Personally I would love to see someone of the class of Gundappa Vishwanath to actually be in the hot seat, he has both the charisma and also the head to sit through the pressure. We need at this point someone who can crack the whip and also wield the silver ladle. Too much of either would rip the team apart. Its all fine to talk about happy players and bonding and those ergonomic words of self effacing praise, but it scarcely talks about the need of the hour, at this point the Indian team is nothing but a bunch of bungling over confident clowns who have a long way to go to reach the heights of th 2003 side.  someone who can pull the lads and make talented boys like piyush chawla have a meaty chunk without fearing his head.

Clive LLoyd or a Viv richards would possibly do the job of enthusing the pride of the boys in blue  which seems so conspicuous by its absence. There needs to be some serious putging of the matters of the heart as the team seems more dominated by emotions of being wronged  by the public than anything else. Again dravid here needs to be alittle more assertive with the boys, I personally do not see him being the leader by nature more of the follower!!

It will be an interesting result to see who the BCCI nominates as the next coacj and whetehr he actually takes up the mantle