Being Freddie - My story so far -- Book Review

Introduction: It is an irony that I get to read the autobiography of Flintoff and his accounts of the 2005 Ashes series triumph when the England team led by him just suffered the ignominy of suffering a white wash in their 2006 Ashes series. Andrew Flintoff (popularly known as 'Freddie') should have been eager to capitalize on the popularity of the ashes triumph and seems to have come up with this book for just that purpose.

Narration Style: At the beginning of the book when Freddie says that things like bowling, batting & playing chess came naturally to him, I felt that he was trying to blow his own trumpets a bit too much. As the book progressed, I understood that he was very candid & the initial statements were more of a direct way of putting things across. The frankness with which he admits some of his mistakes on & off the field make Freddie very endearing. If you weren't a big fan of Freddie already, you would surely become one after reading this book. He gives us accounts of his cricket playing days from the age of six and his phenomenal rise till the ashes series where he won the man-of-the-series award in a lively & humorous manner.

Negatives: One of the major problems of the book is the lack of a personal touch. The book, at best, appears to be a tour diary than an autobiography. Freddie never deals with the emotional turmoils that he has surmounted during his off-days & also during the emotionally draining ashes series. I can understand when he doesn't talk about his family to a great extent but what beats me is the lack of description of the inner battles that he has won during his rise to the stature of a superstar in England. His openness and some interesting anecdotes prevent the book from becoming an absolute waste of time.

Bottomline: You would probably be better of reading various cricket news in the net & in the paper than reading this book. They would give you as much or maybe more information about cricket at the highest level than this book.

Trivia: Do not miss out on what Freddie has to say about Ganguly. You can read about it here.

Flintoff on Ganguly

Just completed the book "Being Freddie -- by Andrew Flintoff" and he has some really harsh comments on Ganguly. The exact text on how Flintoff feels about Ganguly is given below. (I have removed stuff that were more of a general observation & just quoted the lines pertaining to Ganguly)

After that one day series I returned to Lancashire where it was clear Ganguly was not settling in at Old Trafford....... Ganguly just didn't work out at all. You can accept a player not playing well, because we all have our ups & downs in our career, but he just didn't want to get involved. He wasn't interested in the other players and it became a situation where it was ten players & Ganguly in the team. He turned up as if he was royalty - it was like having Prince Charles on your side. There were rumors he was asking people to carry his coffin (The cricket kit) for him, although he never asked me...........

His first game was at Kent and he got out first ball lbw to Mark Ealham. He came in not looking that bothered and we heard that Paul Nixon, the Kent wicket-keeper, had said something to him along the lines of 'hard luck, first ball and all that'. Ganguly turned around and told him, 'I'm not going to waste my runs on these games. I'll save them for when it matters'. That's fine if he wants to be like that, but then why bother coming to Lancashire - he doesn't need the money......... I don't dislike the bloke, but it's a struggle with him.

The rather surprising thing for me is that "The Hindu" has this article but has blissfully ignored the comments made by Ganguly to Ealham probably for the fear of inciting the public.

To be fair to Ganguly, here is an article saying the exact opposite of what Flintoff had to say. I guess it is up to each one of us to believe what we 'want' to believe!!!

Music all way.........

The new year couldn't have begun in a much better way. I have got back the interest to do some thing that I used to do so frequently some time back. Before you let your imagination go WILD, let me stop it and tell you what it is. It is about downloading(Oops..... I still continue doing this 'abominable' thing) & listening to the latest movie songs. One another good thing that has happened in this year is that a couple of good songs have got released & the year promises to only get better as it goes on. Some of the albums that have excited me are :

• Unnale Unnale by Harris Jeyaraj
• Deepavali by Yuvan
• Periyar by Vidyasagar (Check out the lyrics of this movie. Vairamuthu shows why he is so highly rated)
• Pori by Dheena (One song had good lyrics & decent singing)
• Oram Po by G.V.Prakash Kumar (Not yet listened to this. Hoping to do it sometime this weekend)

Photos -- At home

Photo: 1

Photo #1: I was too bored today evening & went about taking some photos. The only thing that I did with this photo is to crop it a little bit to remove the background building from it

Photo: 2

Photo #2: This is the photo of the house opposite to mine. I especially liked this photo for the varied colors that it has in it.

Photo: 3

Photo #3: A closeup of the coconut tree in full bloom. I must have taken close to a 20 photos before I got what I wanted.......... (The best thing about Digital photography :-) )

Photo :4

Photo #4: This is the lamp post just beside my house. It has some creeper surrounding it & when taken with the natural light, this is how it looked. Again, the color & the lighting are something that I really liked about this photo.

Ganguly Revisited

Ohh well............ Eating my own words is not something that I really fancy doing but I am left with no other choice. With Ganguly turning out to be the 'Highest' run getter and proving his worth (On his commitment, the jury is still out), I am forced to take back my previous comments on his inclusion to the test side.


The debate would invariably now start on having Ganguly for the one-dayers & especially for the world cup. At the risk of having to eat my own words at a later point of time, I do not want him in the side. Assuming that Yuvraj singh would be back in the squad & Kaif also 'Re-discovering' his form soon, I am not able to fit Ganguly in the scheme of things for the world cup & beyond.

I have one another reason for not having him in the side for the world cup. It is the rather sad fact that India doesn't have a realistic chance of winning the coveted trophy this time around. I would be happily surprised if we even make it to the semifinals. Having said that, it would be wise on the part of the selectors to start grooming the side for the future. With the future world cup's in mind, the selectors can start picking up people who can make use of this world cup as a learning experience.

India, Way to GO.................

Thank God. I was following the cricket score on cricinfo & luckily was not watching the match in TV. Irrespective of whether we win the 3rd test or not against South Africa, there are quite a few points that did leave me wondering whether we are good enough to win this series (Whether SA is good enough is another story altogether!!!)

1. The rationale behind sending Sehwag to open the innings with Jaffer. If Dravid & Co. thought that Sehwag had regained his 'form' because of his first innings score, how mistaken they were. It shouldn't be forgotten that when Sehwag was batting, the ball was not new & he could easily score his runs
2. If the rationale for the above was that of playing 'Positive' cricket, what was it all about with Dravid & Sachin playing as though they were playing to save the side from a irrecoverable defeat. Beats my thinking
3. Run-out in a test match is considered a crime. And 2 run-outs in an innings is simply blasphemous
   

Here is someone who has captured my 'feelings' in a much much better way. And yeah, I still hope that 'Jumbo' Kumble would come up with 'The' spell of his lifetime and take India to an improbable victory. So much for my 'Positive' attitude.

Sivaji -- Thalaivar photo

That is thalaivar in his new getup for 'Sivaji'. It seems it is for the climax scene of the movie. Makes me expect the movie more.

Veyyil -- Movie review

Cast: Pasupathy, Bharath, Bhavana, Shriya Reddy
Produced by : Shankar
Direction: Vasantha Balan

Story: The story revolves around the two brothers Kathir (Bharath) and Murugesan(Pasupathy). When Murugesan skips school to watch a MGR movie, he is caught in the theatre by his father. His father punishes him in front of all the people in the village & this makes Murugesan to run away from the village with his mother's jewels & money. He is robbed of the money on his way to Chennai & hence he takes refuge in a village where he gets to work for a cinema talkies ( A theatre). The story traces the life of Murugesan & his brother Kathir from this point on. Murugesan, due to circumstances, is forced to return to his native village. Whether his parents & brother accept him and take him into their family fold forms the rest of the plot.

Performances: It would be a gross injustice to Pasupathy if I say that he has acted well as Murugesan. He has virtually lived as Murugesan. Be it sadness, love, anger or anguish, the emotions come naturally to him. I would really expect this performance of his to make the list of nominees for the national award for the year 2006.

Bharath, portraying a hot-headed lad is another apt choice for the role. Be it the anger that he shows when he talks to Bhavana or the softness that he shows to his brother, he does it very naturally. He is one actor who can be expected to go places in Kollywood (Assuming he avoids junk movies like Chennai Kadhal & remains selective in the movies that he accepts)

Bhavana, as the lady love of Bharath is sweet and acts her part well. The scene where she does the recording with Bharath is a not to be missed scene. Her eyes does most of the acting. Her role is short & seems to be added for spicing up things.

The other notable performances are from Shriya Reddy and the people acting as the parents of Murugesan.

Screenplay: The screenplay is free flowing with very few hitches. The first half of the movie is fast paced and the proceedings become slightly dour in the second half of the movie. Some of the scenes in the second half seem forced at best & could have been avoided.

Camera: The camera & editing for the movie is adequate. The camera catches the village life beautifully in the "Veyilodu Villayadi" song. In the name of innovation, the fight scenes between Bharath & the villain are shot differently and it would only sticks out as a sour thumb.

Music: The songs "Kadhal Neruppin Nadanam", "Uruguthe Maruguthe" and "Veyillodu Villayadi" are instantly catchy and would remain in the lips of the public for some time atleast. The Back Ground Music (BGM) is brilliant in some scenes & leaves us desiring for a better score at some places. Do not miss the BGM when Murugesan is travelling by bus back to his village. A haunting flute plucks the strings of the heart in that scene. (The sad part is, immediately after this scene, when Murugesan sets his foot on his village, I was expecting a great score. The music director disappoints me with some pretty ordinary music at this scene) Overall, it is a good effort considering that this is the first movie for the music director G.V. Prakash.

Final Cut: Despite all this small grouches, this is a good movie & is worth watching.

Rating: 7/10

To kill a mockingbird -- Book review

Author: Harper Lee
Year of Publication: 1960
Accolades: Winner of 1961 Pulitzer prize
Introduction: Reading this book left me confused. Confused on whether this is "One of the best" books that I have ever read or is it "The best" book that I have ever read.

The plot: The story takes place in a small county called as Maycomb, Alabama in the year 1935 when racism and prejudice against the Negroes was prevalent. The story revolves around the Finch family consisting of the father Atticus Finch, his 13-year old son Jim, his 9-year old daughter Scout & their maid servant Calpurnia. Atticus,a lawyer, is asked to defend a black person called Tom Robinson who has been charged with the rape of a white woman. The story describes the problems & hardships that the Finch family undergoes when Atticus takes up this case. There is also an interesting sub-plot revolving around the mysterious character of 'Boo' Radley, a neighbour of the Finch family who never comes out of his house. The other interesting characters of this novel are Aunt Maudie (She lives in the apartment opposite to that of the Finch), Aunt Alexandra (Sister of Atticus) and the ever mischievous Dill (Friend of Scout & Jim). Whether Atticus is able to acquit Tom of his charges & whether he is able to appease the people of Maycomb county for fighting for a black person forms the rest of the story.

Narration Style: The story is narrated by Scout, the nine year old daughter of Atticus. This makes for a pretty interesting read as looking at such a serious issue as racism through the eyes of a unprejudiced 9-year old drives home the point in a subtle yet powerful way. There are some places in the narration where you would feel that Scout is 'Super intelligent' to talk about such complex issues as racism, rape & murder. This is probably one of the places where the author could have taken some other approach to narrating the incidents. This is a minor complaint for the narration is gripping with vivid descriptions of the Maycomb county, the pranks that the 3 kids play & the case itself.

Highlight of the book: The following dialog between Scout & Atticus captures the essence of the novel so beautifully that I am forced to reproduce it verbatim. The following exchange occurs when Scout talks about the prudence of Atticus fighting the case for Tom.

Scout: Well, most folks seem to think they're right and you're wrong....
Atticus: They're certainly entitled to think that, and they're entitled to full respect for their opinions but before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience.

Bottom line: This is "The Best" book that I have read till now. A must read.
Trivia: Gregory Peck won the Oscar for portraying the role of Atticus Finch in the movie of the same name.

Rights for Robots!!!!!

I did see this coming but never expected this to happen by the year 2056. In a report coming out of U.K, robots are expected to be given the same rights as humans sometime in the next 50 years.

The development in artificial intelligence in the coming years and hence the ability of the robots to think independently would act as a major factor in going the above said way. I am not in a position to think whether this is needed or not for I have still not recovered from the 'creepy' feeling that I had on learning that we have succeeded in producing robots that have the ability to 'learn' about itself. Let me not post anything improper on this report of giving rights to robot & pave way for a robot suing me at a later point of time!!!!

Ilaiyaraaja's new album

(Photo courtesy: Boxmusiq.com)

I stopped expecting any great film albums from Ilaiyaraaja a few years back itself. His latest film albums tended to be a poor rework/rehash of his yesteryear hits & I didn't want to waste my time listening to them. His non-filmy albums like Thiruvaasagam are the ones for which I always look forward to. I found out today that a new non-filmy album called "The music messiah" might hit the market soon. Am eagerly looking forward to it as the names of the songs listed look very promising. There are samples of songs available at this site. The review of these initial samples from IR fanatics is that it sounds to be an extension of the BGM's that was done for the Malayalam movie 'Guru'. (If you are an IR fan and have not listened to the songs from this album, you are surely missing something). I have not listened to the BGM's of this movie & so I am sure that it would be something new to hear & rave about. The expected date of release is 07/Jan/2007. Am eagerly waiting to grab this album.

Integrity -- How far would you go?

(Photo by: Ashok Krishnan)

Have been following the Jessica Lall case for some time now & the judgment has been provided in the case a few days back. The accused Manu Sharma has been found guilty by the High Court & has been meted out with life imprisonment. One of the main reasons for the verdict is the statement given in the court by the key witness Bina Ramani. She had earlier turned hostile & that had caused a lower court to acquit Manu Sharma. It seems that she was threated to not provide any statements in the court. It is indeed a courageous thing to come out to the court & act as a prime witness in spite of the threats.

Reading the news about her courage led to a question arising in my mind. Would I have done the same thing if I were to be present in a crime scene? Would I show the courage & the integrity (Of which I speak about all the time..........) to act as a witness & testify before the court if I were threatened? With all honesty, I don't think I would have done that. When you are threatened with dire consequences not just for yourself but for your near & dear, I don't think I have 'enough' integrity to stand and fight for justice. It is indeed shameful on my part but that is what it all came down to when I thought deeply about it.I believe I still have a long way to go before I could call myself a person of integrity. Sad but true..........

Humans -- Are we all knowing????

I found two articles (Coincidentally, adjacent to each other) in the science and technology section of Google news that made me think a lot about the 'Power' of human beings.

One of the articles talked about the invention of a robot that can 'learn' on its own. I got a very creepy feeling on learning that we humans have 'Matured' to develop a robot that can learn by itself. Do we really understand the consequences of such an invention? Are we talking about giving the robots a 'brain' to think on its own?Are we trying to play God here?

The other article talked about the discovery of close to 150 new species of animals in places "We humans" thought as uninhabitable. Various fishes & other animals were found in places like under hot thermal vent, in darkest & deepest of regions of sea. We had believed all these days that no living being can survive in these harsh conditions but we were proved wrong. The first thing that came to my mind is about the book 'God's Debris'. In one of the chapters, the protagonist makes fun about the fallacy in human thinking that makes us think that humans are the only "Intelligent" species on earth.

Are humans the 'Most' intelligent? Are humans "All knowing"?

Too many questions. So little answers...........

Check This Out

This is one interesting transcript between Steve Jobs & the Universal Music's CEO. A brilliantly written piece. Have fun reading it!!!!!

Sourav is 'Back'!!!!!!

Tch Tch Tch.......... Why is my blog turning into a 'Cricket' blog??? And why do I have to write (Of all the things) about what is wrong with having Ganguly in the Indian team???? Tch Tch Tch!!!!

Let me begin with making a few things clear right upfront:

1) Ganguly is a very good batsman & a decent bowler. No doubts on that
2) He is the most 'Successful' Indian captain and is a natural leader. No doubts on that as well

With the above facts in place, why do I still have a 'Bad' feeling about having Ganguly in the team? It is for the simple reason that he is also a very shrewd 'Politician' who can (and has been known to) break havoc in the dressing room with his 'cheap' tricks. This is one of the primary reasons he found himself at loggerheads with Chappell. There are so many examples of sports persons who are extremely talented & still end up sitting it out because of their attitudes and loud mouths (Remember Terrell Owens of the Eagles?). Ganguly is no different when it comes to attitude and creating rifts in the team.

The things that 'can' happen when Ganguly takes up the field with the Indian team are:

1) He can polarize the team with two different factions, one supporting him & the other supporting Dravid & Chappell
2) He can play a selfish game where he is totally not concerned about the final outcome of the test series but hangs on to his place in the team by scoring runs and taking wickets

The above said things are a definite 'NO NO' for any team and it does not look too good for the Indian team who are really going through a very bad patch at this stage. All that I can do at this stage is hope that my 'Gut' feeling about our Dada are wrong and that the Indians make a turn around in their fortunes with Ganguly. All The Best, Guys!!!!!

Breaking News -- Gavaskar & Amarnath recalled

In a rather stunning turn of events, the chairman of selectors Vengsarkar decided to recall to the Indian team the 'experienced' Sunil Gavaskar & Mohinder Amarnath. Also, Gavaskar will be replacing Dravid as the captain for the 3-test series to be played between India & South Africa in South Africa.

This rather sudden change of plans unfolded when Saurav Ganguly had a rather freak accident & rolled down the steps of the Air India flight that he was boarding to Cape Town. He sustained irrevocable damage to his medulla oblongata and had to be unfortunately omitted from the scheme of things for the SA test matches.

Speaking to press persons, Vengsarkar had this to say: "Gavaskar & Amarnath are one of the best batsman's India has ever produced. Their experience playing in similar conditions in West Indies back in 1980's would prove to be very beneficial to the team. Their commitment to the team's cause was never in question and they readily accepted the offer to play again for India". Answering queries about their fitness & age factor, he said " The other day I was in Gavaskar's place & I have seen him running around the house with his grand son playing catch-catch. That proves beyond all doubts that he is fit enough for cricket at the international level"

On Dravid's rather unceremonious exit from Captaincy, Vengsarkar observed that it would be an excellent opportunity for Dravid to learn under the tutelage of a great cricketer like Gavaskar. He also pointed out that Dravid is a very positive cricketer & that he will take all this in his own stride.

Gavaskar & Amarnath will board the flights to Cape Town once they are through with their 'Eye Checkup'. The board has now made it mandatory for cricketer's above the age of 50 to undergo an eye checkup. The physio of the Indian team John Gloster has this to add on the test:"It is now an internationally recommended procedure to undergo this test before any overseas tour. With the light intensity levels in each country being different, it is a procedure that would soon be made mandatory by all the cricket boards. Gavaskar & Amarnath are surely not undergoing this procedure because of their age"

Let us join in wishing Gavaskar, Amarnath & India a very successful test series.

Movies Movies Movies

Coming to think of it, the Tamil movie industry has never looked so good. There are a lot of new talent that is getting unearthed these days & it is great for all people who are interested in watching good movies. There are a couple of movies that are worth waiting for. Let's just take a small preview of the movies to come in the next few months.

*) Sivaji:

With 'Thalaivar' in the lead role after the super-duper hit of 'Chandramukhi', this movie has raised even more expectations. The reasons: Produced by AVM, directed by Shankar, music by Rahman. With 'Thalaivar' taking as a part of his salary the distribution rights of the movie, he could well be on the way to becoming the 2nd highest paid actor in Asia (First is Jackie Chan) if the movie becomes a hit like 'Chandramukhi'.

Trivia: The stories of Shankar directed movies are closely guarded secrets but as per 'Reliable' sources, 'Sivaji' is about joining the rivers of India. Hats off to 'Thalaivar'!!!!!!

*) Dasavatharam:

Hmmm. Let me get this straight. I am more a 'Kamal' fan than a Rajini fan :-) (But when Rajini appears in such a get up like above, who wouldn't be excited..........)

Kamal & Ravikumar have always produced great comedy movies (Remember the movies 'Avvai Shanmugi', 'Tenali' & 'Panchathanthiram'?). They have joined hands once again and Kamal is going to don 10 (Yes, Ten) different roles in this movie. The veteran (And still good looking :-) ) Nadhiya is also playing an important role in this movie. Asin & few other heroines might also be involved!!!!!! Ignore my ignorance on not knowing much about the music director 'Himesh Reshammiya'. I do not know what to expect from this guy in terms of music.

Trivia: It seems that K.S.Ravikumar has offered a prize for anyone who can 'Correctly' identify the 10 different Kamal's in the movie. (That sounds interesting, isn't it?)

*) Sivapathigaram: (Movie releases today)

I thoroughly enjoyed Vishal's 'Sandai Kozhi' & looking at the trailers of this movie, it promises to be a good action movie. Then there is our very own 'towering' Raghuvaran. The combination of these two look too good to be missed. The director of the movie Karu.Pazhaniappan had a decent start with 'Parthiban Kanavu' and seems to be a promising director. I liked the songs of the movie tuned by Vidyasagar and that adds more pep to the movie.

*) Veyyil:

I was very impressed by the acting skills of Bharath after watching the movie 'Kaadhal' and this movie has another great actor in the form of Pasupathi. (Not many could act along with Kamal and still hold his own forte, right?) Add to this combination the fact that this movie is produced by director Shankar who according to me as a 'Great' eye for spotting talent. The trailer looked great & the titles go on something like this "One person blessed. One person cursed". This sounded very interesting to me. The female interests are played by Bhavana & Shreya Reddy.

Trivia: The music is by G.V.Prakash, the nephew of Rahman. In one of his interviews about this movie, producer Shankar has told that he is able to see the spark that he saw in Rahman during 'Gentleman' days in G.V.Prakash. 'Sounds' great.

*) Paruthi Veeran:

This movie has been in the making for some time now but I am hoping that it would be worth the wait. It has Karthik, the brother of Surya playing the lead role. Ameer, the director of this movie has two decent movies to his credit in the name of 'Mounam Pesiyathe' & 'Ram'. Music is by Yuvan & it is supposed to be a soundtrack based on the theme of the movie. The female lead is Priya Mani (Am I the only one who thinks she is unlucky???)

Trivia: Surya comes in the trailer for the movie introducing his brother.

*) Maya Kanaadi:

Any Cheran movie generates a lot of expectations and this one will be no exception. Cheran's stories which generally revolve around the village side has taken a city subject for a change. And the talented Navya Nair plays the heroine in this movie. Most important: Illayaraaja is scoring the music for this movie. I am not expecting songs that would be instantly likable but songs that would be appreciated and liked after watching the movie. And should I talk about the back ground score even?

*) Pachai Kili Muthu Charam:

NO. I am not looking out for this movie because of Sarath Kumar. It is because it has Gautham wielding the megaphone for this movie. It has Jyothika (Who else?) playing the heroine. The other interesting cast is that of the model Milind Soman. He is supposed to be the villain in this movie. The music is by Harris Jeyaraj & almost all the other technical crew members are the same.

Trivia: It is supposed to be the 'Third Episode in a police officer's life'. Let's keep our guns crossed till the movie's release.

*) Naan Kadavul:

One of the best things that seems to have occurred to Tamil cinema is the introduction of a good number of directors whose movies create a lot of buzz and expectation with the people. If Manirathnam & Shankar come as #1 & #2 in this list, I would probably rate Bala as #3 without any hesitation. Not withstanding the many controversies surrounding this movie, it is now up & running with Arya playing the lead. I was cribbing about Arya playing this role 2 months back but after I saw his performance in 'Arinthum Ariyamalum', I am sure that Arya is capable of delivering a good performance. And yeah, should I even add that the 'Great' music & background will be by none other than the Maestro himself?

*) Bheema:

Wow. This is one movie that I would surely love to watch. It has Vikram and the director is Lingusamy. (He he he.......... Trisha is also there :-) ) Lingusamy is a director who is very good in action movies ('Run' & 'Sandai Kozhi') and it is going to be real nice to have these two guys come together for a movie. Lingusamy generally keeps changing his music directors & he is using Harris Jeyaraj this time.

Trivia: The movie is going through some production problems. Not sure on whether it is still continuing.

*) Pokiri:

Alright. Time for me to get some facts straight. I DID NOT PUT THIS MOVIE IN THE MOVIES WORTH WAITING FOR BECAUSE OF VIJAY.It is because of the fact that it is a remake of the telugu blockbuster of the year 2006 by the same name. It had Mahesh Babu playing the lead role & his movies are generally racy entertainers. If the director (Who happens to be Prabhu Deva) does not botch up things, I am sure that this would turn out to be a decent movie. Ohh yeah. Forgot to mention. It has Asin as the heroine!!!! Music director: Whoever it is going to be, be assured that you will get 3 ghana songs, 1 melody duet & 1 duet with mindless lyrics.


P.S: Just saw in today's newspaper the ad's for the next movie of Gautham. It has Surya in the lead with most of the other technical crew remaining the same. It has been named as "Vaaranam Aayiram".

Interesting News: 05/Nov/06 -- 12/Nov/06

Take #1: A herd of elephants drank 'Intoxicated' brew and caused some rampage around villages. My doubt is, how much does an elephant need to get a 'HIGH'????

Take #2: An artificial Gut has been modeled by a team of scientists in britain. The great thing about this model gut is that it can even 'Vomit'!!!!!

Take #3: This is actually not from last week but from the week before that. You will be pardoned if you think that this is a photo from a hollywood movie. It is actually the scene from Netherland where close to a 100 horses were stranded in a small hill near the beach & the water started raising. Close to 15 horses died before the rest could be saved. A sad thing indeed

Auto rickshaw & the art/principles of Management

Disclaimer: This article has got no connection whatsoever with 'Zen & the art of motorcycle maintenance'. Any similarities to that book is surely on purpose

How does getting into an auto rickshaw & riding thro' the city of Chennai teach us anything about the principles of management? I have done an extensive 'Research' on this project & given below are some of the conclusions that I have arrived upon. (Please feel free to mail me on anything that I might have missed. It would be surely because of 'Oversight' on my part & nothing else!!!)

1) Recognizing Opportunities: One of the foremost skills that you will acquire is the ability to recognize opportunities when it arises. In this case, the test is to find an auto without any passengers. With a little bit of effort, this tends to become easy. All that you need to know is that when an auto has a passenger in it, it speeds at around 200 km/h without any regard for the traffic, road or the passenger inside it even. At the same time, when the auto is devoid of passengers, even a child crawling on the street would be able to overtake it. Also, this auto always travels on the edge of the road making all traffic behind it to snarl. You can safely assume that you have this principle of management in your pocket the moment you are able to look at an auto & guess whether it is loaded with passengers or not.

2) Negotiation Skills: Your negotiation skills will surely improve if you are one of those people who don’t want to spend all his riches on the travel itself. All the negotiation skills that you ever had will be fine-tuned and if you had none, you will get all the negotiation skills that you will need to successfully run a business of your own. A price negotiation for a travel that would actually cost you around Rs.30 will start from anywhere around Rs.40 to Rs.300!!! So, the closer that you are to shelling out the actual price for that travel, the better you are in your negotiation skills.

3) Taking Risks: Let me get this clearly across to you. This 'Principle of Management' comes to you the moment you decide to travel by an auto. Only the bravest of the brave will decide on traveling by an auto & the decision to do that itself is a demonstration of your ability to take risks in life

4) Best path to your goals: (Read as shortest path to your destination) To elevate yourself to understanding this concept of management, you need to become 'THE BEST' in the art of negotiation. Assuming that you have successfully got into an auto with a negotiated price of Rs.30 for a travel that would actually cost you Rs.30 only, you actually get to see a 'Live Demo' of taking the best path to your goal (Read 'Destination') by the auto driver. He becomes an expert who tactfully avoids all traffic jams, takes the shortest path, avoids all mishaps with other vehicles & 'successfully' transports you to your destination. (And yeah. The most important thing is that you need to keep your eyes open during this 'exhilarating' journey. This principle of management will not be learnt if you get into an auto & start following the item #5 below. Items #4 & #5 work a bit like an exclusive-or)

5) Faith in God: I never believed when I attended training classes on management that there is a strong 'Relationship' between principles of management and philosophy. I stand corrected now. My belief in God & destiny has taken a whole new meaning after I started traveling regularly by autos. Bungee jumping, white water rafting, walking thro' the Amazon forest will all seem child's play if you regularly commute by auto. The moment you get into an auto, one starts to pray for the welfare of other's in the road & primarily for our own safety. I am sure that when we put all the atheist of the world into an auto and make them travel in it for an hour, they would end up as the most devout people praising the power of the Almighty at the end of their 'Ordeal'. Such is the power of an auto in inducing faith even in non-believers. Last but not the least, if you happen to be among those unlucky person's who dies because of an accident involving the auto in which you were traveling, please be assured that you have a 'Reservation' in heaven. God is not that cruel to put you thro' hell when you have just traveled in it right before you breathed your last, right?

Trial by Media -- Vindicated

My previous post about the 'Trial by Media' gains more credibility with a similar article appearing in the editorial of "The Hindu". You can find the link to that article here. It seems a good omen to me that there are still people in the 'media' itself who think that the public is taken for a ride in the name of 'Public Opinion'. Let sanity be restored.

Trial by Media

I was watching NDTV channel the other night & there was an interesting debate that was going on about the 'Role of the Media'. The specific reason for NDTV taking up that topic was that the Chief Justice of India, Mr. Y.K.Sabharwal had made the following comment in one of his speeches: "Judges are confused because the media has already given a verdict. I have asked judges to go by evidence before them". Why did he talk about this all of a sudden? The reason that I could perceive is the media's 'Interest' in the Jessica Lal case and it's involvement in the Priyadarshini Mattoo case.

Let me make this very clear here. I am a person who believes in the freedom of the press & also understand the great power it holds in a democratic society. But the 'Active' role that the media is playing in the 'Jessica Lal' murder trial is a case of the media losing its bearing & walking down an untrodden path of no return. Does the freedom of press entitle the media to label someone as 'Guilty' even before the judges of our court do? Does it entitle the media to 'Stop' the lawyer who is taking up the case for the defendant? (Incidentally, the lawyer happens to be none other than the mercurial Mr. Ram Jethmalani. Check out the interview & the transcript of the interview he gave to CNN-IBN here) I seriously don't think the media has those rights. Has the media forgotten the difference between the 'Accused' & the 'Guilty'? I would be really happy to support the media if it makes an honest effort in bringing up some solid evidence to prove that the accused is indeed guilty. Let it not resort to cheap tactics like 'Moral Black mailing' of the lawyer who has decided to appear for the defendant.

To sign off, I am just reminded of a beautiful line from the movie 'Spiderman'. "With great power comes great responsiblity". Let the media understand its power & its responsibilty.

How to lose a cricket game - A case study!!!

Let me be kind in my words about the pathetic batting display by the West Indians. I can always assume that they had a 'Really really' bad day at office & so their batting did not click. Sadly, nothing would be further from the truth than this assumption. Chris Gayle & Chanderpaul had one of the best starts by any team against Australia in recent times and finally they end up getting all out for 138!!!!!

At the end of 10 overs, the windies were at a score of 80 odd and all that they had do was to score 4 to 4.5 runs/over from there on which would have left them at a score of around 240 to 260, a decent score to defend against the strong batting line up of the Australians. And what do they end up doing? They play horrendously & end up with an undefendable score of 138. The Indians would have done better. We do have the likes of Harbhajan Singh & Munaf patel in our 'Strong' batting lineup.

My friend was of the opinion that two of the best teams of the tournament are playing in the finals. I had my doubts when he said that & my doubts stand vindicated by the windies batting display. The only consolation is that the match is not over yet & someone might want to say that 'Anything' can happen in cricket. Let me be practical to assume that the Aussies will run away with the match once the game resumes.

Reliance Fresh -- Start of the 'Indian' Walmart?

Just read the news that the Mukesh Ambani lead 'Reliance Group' opened its first set of 11 grocery stores in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad. Named as 'Reliance Fresh', the opening of this store is just the beginning of the great plans of Reliance to open Reliance Retail stores all over India. According to Forbes, Reliance is planning on investing $5.6 billion (Yeah, it is billion) in establishing retail stores like Walmart across the country. It seems the plan is to open department stores, supermarkets in 784 Indian cities & 6,000 towns by 2011.



How does it impact the 'Average' Indian? It means that we get to get quality products at cheaper prices from one of the best brand names of our country. It also means that reliance has a heads-up in the retail market assuming that 'Super Giants' of retailing like Walmart are allowed to enter India to setup their operations. Most importantly, it means that Indian's hard-earned money does not go into the pockets of some western country & would probably be used effectively for developing our country itself.

Let's keep our fingers crossed for sometime and play the wait & watch game.

When cricket takes a back seat.........

We were all supposed to be enjoying the cricket that was happening in the ICC Champions Trophy but the sad fact is that the 'Game' happening on the field has sadly taken a back seat and the happenings outside the field are stealing the headlines.

A couple of things that have been show stoppers for the tournament:
1) Akthar & Asif being sent back to Pakistan on the allegations of doping
2) The 'Dew' factor playing a major role in the matches. It was ridiculous to see almost all the captains talking about the dew factor as though it is their 12th man!!!! One of the primary reasons for having day-night fixtures is to pull in more people & sponsorships. The empty stadiums did not actually do a lot of justice to that decision. The crowd turnout was so bad to the extent that Lara was reported to have said that he was happy to see an almost full crowd for their semifinals against South Africa.
3) The 2 year ban for Akthar & the 1 year ban for Asif. (It was really funny to see the interview of Asif in NDTV. He had the 'Guts' to say that he doesn't know about drug testing. Are you kidding me????)
4) The removal of Darrell Hair from the elite panel of ICC umpires
5) Last but not the least, an uninspiring & insipid performance by the Indian team. Has the Indian team already touched the abyss or is that performance reserved for the 'Tour of South Africa' & the 2007 World Cup? (On a personal note, I hate to see the Dravid's Ad's for Hutch & Anchor swiches. I have seen 3 different versions of the Hutch Ad. Why doesn't this people concentrate on their preparation for the world cup?)

P.S: Found an interesting item that happened, for a 'Change', on the field during the semifinals between Australia & New Zealand. Check it out here

My Experiments with Training!!!!!

My B.E classmate is working in a training institute & she has been asking me to join as a part-time consultant in her training institute. They maintain a trainer network like this with full-time employees & people like me who did out of their interest. I was also very interested in that for that would give me a chance to interact with people from varied backgrounds. Last weekend (29/Oct/2006) they had organized a get-together for all the people involved & I was supposed to give a small talk about myself.

I was a bit tensed even before going there. When I saw the people who had come there, I was literally shaking. Some hint of the people who had come
1) Grandson of Sir C.V.Raman
2) A person with 35 years of Sales experience
3) A person who has worked with Mr.Kalam during the SLV launch!!!
4) A great presenter of the name Mr........... If this person had talked for 3 hrs, nobody would have complained about it

As my friend had told me that I need not do any presentation, I had not prepared anything. But all the new people who had volunteered had prepared on some topic or the other. So, I had to make up most of my presentation there. The thing that I did is that I added additional points to the previous presentations that were made & saved my life!!!! At the end of it all, I was so excited to be there in that session. I got some appreciation also from some of the people there for my extempore speech. I felt very happy about it as those are some really BIG people!!!!

God's Debris: Book Review

Succesfully I have finished one more book. And honestly, I don't know whether it is a good book or a bad book!!! I had heard of God's Debris thro' one of my friends, had downloaded it from the net long time back but never read it. Then, a fortnight back I met with the same friend's brother & he was talking highly of the book. This time I decided that I will not stop at just downloading the book but also would go on to finish it. Here I am, successful at that venture.

Now, about the book itself. This book is by Scott Adams, the 'Creator' of the popular comic strip character 'Dilbert'. If you have seen/read any of the books of Scott Adams, it is easy for one to assume that it will never be possible for him to write on a serious note & that too on a serious subject like God. But that is exactly what he does in this book. He takes up the serious subject of God, religion, people, their delusions & looks at those in his own humorous yet thought provoking way.

Ironically, the name of the protagonist in this book is 'Avatar'. His encounter with a person, his questions & explanations to various questions posed by the second person forms the crux of the book. The book does not have a storyline per se & it drifts from one question to the other. This is the strength as well as the weakness of the book. If you are a person who is interested in reading a book with a strong plot, you will be slightly disappointed. If, to the contrary, you are a person who is fine with reading an interesting book with no specific plot, this book will be something that you can't keep down without finishing it. The best part of the book is when the protagonist makes fun at a lot of the common 'Beliefs' that we people have.

There are a lot of 'One-liners' that I loved in the book. This one takes the top prize.

"Awareness is about unlearning. It is the recognition that you don’t know as much as you thought you knew"

Bottom line: Whether you love this book, admonish it as one useless piece of junk, praise it as the best book or put it down as one of the worst book ever written, DO NOT leave it unread. This is one 'MUST' read for anyone who believes that the top of their head is not empty!!!!!

Poovar -- One More Time

1) Another sunset photo!!!!!!!!!
2) The winding river............... A beautiful coconut grove was on its side
3) A beautiful black & white picture of fishermen

More photos on the way

1) I went on a country baot ride along the Poovar river and this is how the river winds thro'

2) The starting point of the boat ride. I had initially thought that the boat would go in this direction but actually went in the opposite direction!!!! (It really did not matter in the end as the other side was equally beautiful & lush green)

Photos from Poovar

1) A lily in the pond. The first time I tried taking this photo, my feet got stuck in the mud & had to pull my invaluable hawaai slipper out from the mud.

2) Sunset at Poovar beach. Took loads & loads of these photos.

Cellphones

There are some inventions that make you wonder not just at the 'Power' of that invention but also at the 'Added Features' to that invention(In all the wrong ways,though!). The cellphone, invented by some xyz is one such technical gizmo that make you go sane & insane at the same time depending on which part of the world you live in at that particular moment.

How will someone explain the so many noises or the 'technically correct' word called as ringtones? Someone has a noise of a baby crying, that of a dog barking, an alien smiling and whatever noise that they could lay their hands (or ears) on is made into a 'Ringtone'.

Here is a person who walks unto you and asks about the various features of your cellphone as though these features make the 'Lifeline' of your everyday existence. Does it have a radio? A torchlight? A camera? A pacemaker? A remote to control their brains? Why should a cellphone have anything other than the ability to talk with people is something that always beats me.



Then there is this person talking seemingly to thin air making me wonder about the technological advances in 'Wireless Technology' till I was brought down to earth (And further below as well) by my friend who explained me about the concept of 'Hands Free' to me. Technology DOES drive people insane for sure!!!!

And the purpose of having a video ringtone is also something that my primitive mind always fails to comprehend. Will the person having this video ringtone be watching the video and forget to attend to the call before the caller disconnects because of frustration?(And who would like to pick a call from your friend when 'Aishwarya Rai' is dancing for you!!!!!!) Maybe that is the whole point of having a video ringtone.

And last but not the least of the insanities of a cellphone user is the ubiquity of the device itself. Every person on earth seems to have ATLEAST one cellphone that you are left wondering whether you should be giving your old cellphone to your dog and buying a costly model (One with all the 'Features', video ringtones and other 'Useful' stuff). But the only problem with that approach is that I would never be able to tell whether my dog is talking(barking) to me or whether I am getting another call(Well, I have a dog barking as my ringtone!!!)

Excuse me folks. I have to finish my article at this point. My cellphone is ringing!!!!!!!

The Search Begins.......

Have been thinking a lot of late about some really complex issues that I have been facing (And when I come to think of it, "Thinking" by itself is a complex task for me!!!). Been trying hard to understand people around me, their behaviors, their likes, dislikes and everything inbetween. Probably I should try to learn "Rocket Science" for that should be much simpler than the "Bewildering" task that I have undertaken.

There seems to be no 'Predictability' about people & their behaviors. Then I started thinking about why people are like this & what could be the possible reason for these "Random Outcomes" from people. What could hold answers for this? Psychology? Culture? Social Upbringing? Freudian 'Something'? Is there something very obvious that my pea sized brain (Thank God, I have that atleast) is missing? A 'Clue' perhaps that is always present but which I am over-looking out of my ignorance or otherwise? Maybe yes. Before I even ventured on to 'Predict', 'Analyze' & 'Understand' others, do I know myself?

Hmmm. There it is. I think I have hit the nail on its head. I am not sure on whether I know myself well. With such limited understanding of my own self, I had no chance whatsoever of understanding others. What is needed is an introspection, probing deep into my inner self & finding hidden meanings about myself.

It is the understanding of my heart that holds the key to the heart of others. Knowing fully well the arduous task that I have undertaken, I am determined to go the full distance to get the answers. The search has begun.......

Editorial On Culture

This is an article that I wrote for my company's newsletter. It was published as the editorial for the November 2005 edition.

"By culture we mean all those historically created designs for living, explicit and implicit, rational, irrational, and non rational, which exist at any given time as potential guides for the behavior of men" -- Kluckhohn & Kelly in the book 'The Science of Man in the World Culture'.

The roots for the evolution of a culture could be traced back to the evolution of the human race itself. Culture, when applied to companies, educational institutions & universities form the organizational culture. When we talk about organizational culture, it can be described as the shared set of values, goals, behaviors & beliefs of the people working in an organization that get exhibited in their day-to-day working style.

With studies indicating a strong relationship between the culture of an organization & its success, it becomes imperative for people leading organizations to pay close attention to the culture that exists in their organization and on ways to improving it. The steps that can be taken for making the shift towards a culture that would lead to high productivity include

(1)Gauging the culture that exists presently in the organization
(2)Having a clear idea of what the culture of the organization should be in the future
(3)Taking a positive step towards that cultural change

The culture that exists in Chrysler & British Airways (BA), the cultural change programs that these companies introduced to bring about the present culture serves as a case in point for the importance of culture for an organization, its relevance to the organization's growth & the growth of its people.

Chrysler of the 90's, for example, had a bad reputation for customer service & press relations. The company was incurring huge losses & its market share was falling drastically. Bob Lutz, the president of Chrysler at the time of this crisis, had a vision of making Chrysler the technology leader in the cars & trucks segment. He introduced a cultural change program called as 'Customer One' to enable Chrysler to move towards his vision. The basic areas in which the 'Customer One' change program focused on are: involvement of people, agreeing on objectives, learning & emphasis on quality. This cultural change brought about results that were astounding by any yardstick. Chrysler's stock value increased by close to four times & it had moved from an organization on the verge of bankruptcy to a profitable organization.

Cultural changes take a long time to sink in & the transitions are difficult. But the fruits of the change are very significant. The culture that a person imbibes from the organization and his individual culture are so closely interwoven that the manifestations of one is noticed in the other.