IPL out of India? Yeah! NRIPL!!!

Hmm, long time since I visited my blog! Anyways, I finally got the thing going through me to hit another blog post. And what was that due to? Season 2 of the IPL, which set the news reels rolling for over a month!

IPL 2 for dummies, was not played in India. It was caught up with so many controversies that it had to be moved out. Reasons quoted were lack of Security and the Lok Sabha Elections. However, our beloved Lalit Modi, took the contest to its second home, South Africa! Well, it sounded weird and lame, at the same time! Indian Premier League in SA, BCCI must be nuts!

But Modi pulled off the event like a magician pulling out bunnies from his tall hat! Yes, the IPL 2, according to me, has been quite a treat for cricket frenzy fans! The South African pitches which varied in bounce, and pace had made it a quality concious tournament! the 8 regionally titled teams, were out there again, some in new colors, to fight it out for the rubies and diamond studded trophy (Actually, it looks more like the Map of India carved out from Thermacoal, sprinkled with gold sparklers!).

This IPL witnessed a change of fortunes. If you haven't heard the track titled 'Nice Guys Finish Last' by Greenday, or if you ever questioned it's applicability, here was your answer... 'Last Guys Finish First' was what this IPL was all about. Royal Challengers of Bangalore and the blue-clad Deccan Chargers made it to the finals of the mega event this year! However, it was the Deccan Chargers walking away with the trophy.

Controversially speaking, this IPL was better! I mean, we witnessed quite some action off the field last IPL like the Sreesanth slapgate issue. This time, It was more of the owners getting into tangles!!! Ness Wadia and MD Burman of Kings XI Punjab got beaten up by a South African businessman, Shah Rukh was publicly referred to as Dildo by a player from his own team, and yeah, I almost forgot the Preity-Ness breakup!!!

Yeah, and talking about ads, we witnessed the rise of the Zoozoos, above the Deepikas and Katrinas in the TRPs... Oh! Anybody questioning the old wine? Well, you better dont! Anil Kumble, Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden, retired Intl. players, set the cards rolling in IPL 2.... There was a gush of young adrenaline, with Manish Pandey becoming the only Indian to score an IPL century!

So, to sum it all up, this year's IPL was a mixture of Indian talent, both young and old. Indians fared much better in the South African pitches, than they did in the Indian conditions last year!

India's run for Gold around the Globe!

Oh.... Saya....., Thats how this one started. A rythmic hum by A.R.Rahman which has taken him places. Slumdog Millionaire, a Danny Boyle film starring Dev Patel, has been calling the shots this year and if all goes well, might bag a few Oscars too! The film has already had a dream run in the Golden Globe Awards this year. But is it worth all the hype? Well, I beg to differ!

To begin with, Slumdog Millionaire has been directed with a cynical view towards India and its culture. Its more of a mockery than a serious film. No doubt it sold like hot cakes in the Englishland. Jamal Malik, a 'slumdog' (this term was used over 20 times in the movie!) grows up facing the realities of life i.e. the tough and uncertain times of any person from the slums. He makes it to THE show which could change lives forever within hours, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, the English version of Kaun Banega Crorepati. Thats about it!

From there on, the whole movie deals with nothing more than a bunch of questions, the answers of which lie in the troubled 18 years of Jamal's life! Yes, there is the saving grace in the form of questions to which he did not know the answer. Maybe the only reason why it is getting all its attention! But, then again, there were some gaping holes, in the movie, which made it look nothing extraordinary!

To begin with, the scene, where Jamal meets his old friend, a boy blinded on purpose to beg as it fetched double the earnings of a normal kid. The blind boy, correctly guesses the face of the man on a $100 bill! Now, how did he know the answer? And when did any foreigner, however generous he was, donate $100 to a blind beggar boy! Honestly, that incident didnt make any sense! The other dsiturbing fact about the movie seems to the totally filmi style in which things have been overblown. You find extremes in the movie , which you would find in any typical Bollywood film! The mad chase for love by Jamal, and the totally lame way in which the lady responds! The reunion of the brothers, after many years. The proponent called 'villain' in the form of Mamman (the beggar mob leader) , Salim (Jamal's brother) in parts, and Javed (the mafia leader), and even Anil Kapoor (show host) appears in the movie, making it look normal. I couldnt digest the fact that the show host could call for a break, after displaying a question. I havn't seen such a thing happen in KBC either! 

To sum it up, Slumdog Millionaire is good, but nothing out of the world deserving Golden Globes and Oscars. Yes, A.R.Rahman deserved the award, something which he should have won a long time ago! His music in the movie blends seamlessly with the scenes. Jai Ho... the conclusive song sounds good, but the picturisation the song is again... filmi! I read a few reviews where writers have compared this movie to the Brazilian masterpiece, Cidade De Deus (City Of God) . Give me a break! City Of God, did not have the above mentioned elements and looked like it was shot off the streets with NO actors involved! It looked totally REAL!

The bottom line is, SM is a start, but not the brighest. It has sure shifted the path of traditional film making, and with Slumdog Crorepati ( Slumdog Millionaire dubbed in hindi), hitting the Indian screens, many budding directors would draw inspiration to make something better. Its a path breaking film, but definitely, not the best India can offer to the World!!!

Roller Coaster evening...

Hmmm...IPL, a mantra which has been the craze of the nation for the last 40 odd days! With most of my friends and relatives rooting for Chennai Super Kings, I chose to cheer for the Royal Challengers of Bangalore. Sounded a bit off-track, but I liked the unit better than Chennai and it had my icon Rahul 'The Wall' Dravid leading them...

The journey for the team hadn't been a pleasant one. However, I set my mind to see em play down here against Chennai. Tickets? Well, a rat race was on. But, I happened to get a season ticket from one of my friends who wasn't interested in that day's game. Hence,it was game on for the 21st of May, Banaglore Royal Challengers vs Chennai SuperKings at the M.A.Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk. But well, the wee hours before the game were like the climax of an action packed Hollywood film!

3:00 PM- I anxiously look at the clock at my office (I train as an Articled assistant at an Accounting firm in Chennai at Alwarpet). The heat beams down on us. So, we fellow students decide to go out for a drink. Its oven hot. Must have been a tad higher than 41 degrees!

3:30 PM- We return to our seats at office. Things havn't changed. I text my cousins on my mobile that I would be back home by 5 PM. Plans worked out to start at 5.30 in order to listen to some playback singers too at the stadium.

4:00 PM- The heat is wiped off like a magician casting a weather changing spell. The blanket of grey hovers above Alwarpet. I console myself telling it would not rain and I will get to witness a full Twenty20 contest with no overs reduced due to rain delays.

4:30 PM- The Clouds get murkier and darker. Not a great sign before a match which you have been longing to make it for the last 20 odd days! I wrap up my work at the office. Step2... A half-hearted approach towards the boss's cabin requesting for an early departure.

4:45 PM- I approach the boss and explain my agenda for the evening. Permission granted. I hit the road in less than 20 seconds from my boss's nod! looking up at the skies, I curse the Gods for having fixed this day off the whole goddamn summer to chill out!!

5:15 PM- I reach home. Cousins had been waiting for sometime now. I make a quick dash to the restroom, freshen up, and all of us are about to leave. And Kazoom, The rain pours down like never before. My heart sinks. With a great sigh, I sink to the recliner. But, wait... Is it Raining all over Chennai? Duh! As far as my geography knowledge went, I thought it rained all over a city!

5:45 PM- My dad makes a call to his friend at Triplicane (a place hardly a kilometer away from the ground!). Good news. No rain yet at Chepauk! We hit the streets with raincoats and catch an auto.

6:40 PM- The auto break down. The autowala gets off and tries his tricks. 15 minutes, yet no signs of the auto kicking itself into life again! He has almost given up. After another couple of minutes of hard thinking, he decides to meddle with the system of the auto for 1 last time. WOW! This is when I started having some positive hope about the game that night!

7:10 PM- We reach Chepauk. Ah! The gates! The Stadium has an entrance for each of its bloody stands! We walk, rather jog, the entire circumference of the stadium and finally, get to out ticket gates. Its 7:25 by then... Just in time for the toss...

7:40 PM- Oops! The rain followed us here! Its started to drizzle. Players are still training for the game, after a few minutes, they walk off the field! There are big groans across the stadium.

7:55 PM - Hmmm... The drizzle stops. The umpires come out for an inspection. After a few mintues, the commentator announces the game would begin by 8:15 PM! Not bad! Just a 15 minute delay. So, no overs would be lost!

I looked like a total jackass in the first innings of the game that night as my team, RC Bangalore had scored the slowest IPL century and had posted a very humble 126 off their 20 overs. But, I was glad to see Dravid bat his way to a well made 47 runs. The 2nd half, I was beaming almost the entire duration of 20 overs as the Royal Challengers of Bangalore pushed Chennai into their worst defeat bundling them off for a meagre 110 runs! My cousins still mock at me telling My Team's IPL is over already and winning now makes no difference. I simply replied, ' Shut Up! We spoilt ur party today!'

An Hour to While Away.... At the PO.

The current Indian scene of investing is not upswing. Investments are dominated by corporate banks and institutions nowadays. But i am here not to go blah-blah about these corporates To do that, there are many experts who have done extensive research and blogged.

I recently happened to visit the Post Office. Yes, some place as simple as that. It was for sending a document across to B'lore and I decided to use the famed Speed-Post network for this.It had been quite some time since I had visited a Post Office. As i filed myself into a queue, my eyes paced around the 800 odd square feet area. Old Records, Grilled cabinets and the nostalgic chaapa or the blue inked seal, much was the same except for the pieces of furniture with glass partitions which looked new.

On any normal day, one can see a handful of grey haired men at the PO. Well, we could argue that the Aged preferred safe and secure deposits, rather than risking it all in Mutual Funds and Share markets. Apart from that, they received their due respect and dignity at these places. I have noticed a seventy+ being pushed around in ICICI once. Now, thats not the case with Post Offices. The employees greet them and sit for a nice little chat, sometimes accompanied by tea.

I still couldn't make up my mind that such places existed... All I had been seeing in the past couple of years were ATMs, plush and high-tech banks, IT parks and Export units.This was like a rare gem still left untouched by the wave of modernisation. It felt good to see that at least some part of the present had traces of the past left. Yes, the removal of Post Offices wont make a big difference as every Tom,Dick and Harry can e-mail each other now... But, that would result in the eviction of what I feel deserves a place in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Centers!